A public school district in Georgia purportedly modified its website and adjusted race-based policies in an attempt to circumvent a broad federal enforcement action targeting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, according to a recent watchdog report.
The report, issued by the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies (DFI), outlines how the City Schools of Decatur (CSD) district allegedly "embedded racially discriminatory" DEI principles throughout its teacher development and educational content, only to remove evidence when federal financial support was jeopardized.
According to DFI, the smaller school district situated just outside of Atlanta invested millions between 2017 and 2024 into DEI initiatives, staff compensation, and training focused on race.
Financial Investment and Ideological Focus
A DFI representative noted that records indicate district leadership was intensely focused on racial 'equity'—allocating over $2 million to it—potentially at the expense of genuine impartiality. The representative added that "Training teachers to 'decolonize' the curriculum and to blame achievement gaps on white supremacy is totally unhelpful to the mission of educating students."
The report referenced a local publication, Decaturish, which stated CSD "spent about $1.8 million on salaries for equity department staff between 2017 and 2024."
The DFI report contends that CSD provided training to educators and administrators through "Beyond Diversity" workshops and "Courageous Conversations About Race" frameworks. Critics argue these programs attributed racial disparities within schools and broader society to "whiteness."
Curriculum and Training Approaches
Further findings from the DFI watchdog report reveal that administrative staff actively sought to diminish the prominence of "Eurocentric" elements in the educational content.
As per the report, a component of "Organizing district infrastructure for racial equity" involved mandating that educators "recognize that many aspects of curriculum and instruction are historically based in Eurocentric principles and content . . . and build the organizational capacity, skills, and competencies to decolonize curriculum and praxis, diversifying content to perpetuate a just, humane, and democratic society that enables all students to be safe, seen, and successful."
DFI’s investigation found that "The CSD equity database contains a vast array of resources relating to training educators and teaching students that white supremacy pervades America’s schools and that ‘whiteness’ and ‘eurocentrism’ must be decentered from their learning."
The district also developed the Justice, Action, Diversity, and Equity (JADE) program, presenting it as an anti-racism and social justice course specifically designed for middle school students.
Moreover, equity teams were formed in every school, with designated "anti-racist" leaders who allegedly pressured their colleagues to prioritize race in all instructional decisions.
Federal Pressure and Policy Adjustments
The district’s overt promotion of its race-centric agenda experienced a halt following stringent enforcement measures implemented by the Trump administration. These measures targeted school systems with allegedly discriminatory DEI offices under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
When faced with federal directives requiring them to demonstrate non-discriminatory practices, CSD officials removed these policies from public view, the report asserts. DFI discovered that "Equity @ CSD"—an online repository of the district's DEI and Critical Race Theory (CRT)–focused materials—was removed from the website, along with any mentions of the equity department itself.
In April 2025, the school board formally revoked its equity policy to align with federal requirements. However, statements from district leadership suggest these changes were largely superficial. During a school board session, the board's vice chairman remarked that the policy’s removal was "not stopping us from doing the work—it’s stopping us from using the words."
DFI concluded in its report: "When the U.S. Department of Education began requiring school districts to comply with federal civil rights law, CSD did not abandon its discriminatory DEI agenda. Instead, the district briefly rescinded equity-related policies, later reinstated them, and quietly removed or sanitized race-based materials from its website."
