By: Casey Harper | The Center Square
President Joe Biden's budget proposal seeks to set aside billions of dollars to push progressive gender, sexuality and race ideology at home and around the globe.
Released this week, the $7.3 trillion budget also proposes spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to train school teachers in diversity, equity, and inclusion dogma.
The White House touted the spending in its announcement of Biden’s budget, which includes $3 billion to “advance gender equity and equality worldwide.”
That $3 billion figure is several hundred million dollars higher than the 2023 budget request.
Funding for domestic projects of the same kind are robust as well though, including for public education to "improve the diversity of the teacher pipeline."
In fact, Biden’s budget prioritizes training a new generation of teachers who embrace progressive ideology on race, gender, and sexuality.
For example, the budget includes $30 million to increase the number of teachers who go through the Hawkins Centers of Excellence, a federal effort that sets up programs to trains teachers in inclusivity on race, gender and sexuality.
Those training programs must be set up at minority-focused colleges such as historically black colleges and universities or colleges focused on serving Native Americans or Hispanics.
Once established, the taxpayer-funded program must “examine the sources of inequity and inadequacy in resources and opportunity and implement pedagogical practices in teacher preparation programs that are inclusive with regard to race, ethnicity, culture, language, and disability status and that prepare teachers to create inclusive, supportive, equitable, unbiased, and identity-safe learning environments for their students.”
In another similar funding item, the budget sets aside $95 million for the Teacher Quality Partnership Program, another federal effort that administers grants for training teachers.
According to the Federal Register, this grant program prioritizes teachers of color over white teachers in order to “create inclusive, supportive, equitable, unbiased, and identity-safe learning environments for their students.”
“The Department recognizes that diverse educators will play a critical role in ensuring equity in our education system,” the agency said.
The program also prioritizes grant applicants who can help create a “positive, inclusive, and identity-safe climate” for gay, lesbian, transgender and minority students.
In response to The Center Square’s reporting, Republicans took aim at Biden’s budget.
“President Biden's reckless and radical budget adds $18 trillion dollars to the debt including billions of dollars for divisive DEI programs,” U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., who leads the House Freedom Caucus, told The Center Square. “As his partisan State of the Union speech previewed, President Biden is borrowing more money we don't have to pay for things we don't need in order to pander to the Democrat base."
In yet another similar funding item, the budget puts $90 million toward the “Supporting Effective Education Development Program,” which has given away tens of millions of dollars in recent years for similar efforts.
In one example, the program awarded $662,744 to the University of North Georgia to train teachers in “social and emotional wellbeing; trauma-informed pedagogies; and diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
“Our expected outcomes are that 30 new teachers will be certified, and 84 induction-level teachers will add two endorsements to their certifications,” the group said in its research abstract.
The funding proposals for teachers are relevant because critics of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Critical Race Theory teachings and trainings in public education have been brushed off by defenders, who say it is not present in K-12 schools.
“President Biden has his priorities completely backward, and hardworking Tennesseans will not stand for another tax-and-spend boondoggle,” U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told The Center Square. “This unserious budget – the largest proposed in U.S. history – includes $3 billion for the Green Climate Fund to help ‘prioritize climate change’ and millions for programs that promote DEI."
The national debt is currently over $34 trillion and would rise to $45 billion by 2034 under Biden’s budget.
As The Center Square previously reported, the budget includes several tax increases, including a 25% minimum tax on billionaires, as well as ramping up audits on Americans to increase IRS collection.
Related Story: Air Force Embraces DEI as Recruitment Falters
