Attorney General Bonta Provides Guidance to Schools on Efforts to Support Equal Access to Education Opportunities

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, as part of a multistate coalition, issued guidance to institutions of higher education and K-12 schools regarding their obligations under federal civil rights laws and the U.S. Constitution. The guidance responds to the U.S. Department of Education’s February 14, 2025 Dear Colleague letter, which threatens to withdraw federal funding from, and to investigate, educational institutions that retain diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and programming. The guidance emphasizes that well-established legal principles allow schools to promote educational opportunity for students of all backgrounds. The guidance also clarifies that the federal government cannot prohibit these efforts via a Dear Colleague Letter and that such policies and programs are consistent with law.  

“By bringing diverse perspectives to their campuses, schools foster a culture of learning, debate, and growth that benefits their students for the rest of their lives,” said Attorney General Bonta. “It shouldn’t matter where you live, how much money your parents make, the color of your skin, who you love, or how you identify. Every person deserves an equal access to a public education.”

Educational institutions should continue to foster diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility among their student bodies. Longstanding legal precedent has established that educational institutions may take steps to build student bodies that are meaningfully diverse across numerous dimensions, like geography, socioeconomic status, race, and sexual orientation and gender identity, among others. Nothing in the Dear Colleague letter changes existing law and well-established legal principles that encourage – and even require – schools to promote educational opportunity for students of all backgrounds.

Longstanding legal precedent has established that educational institutions may take steps to build student bodies that are meaningfully diverse across numerous dimensions, like geography, socioeconomic status, race, and sexual orientation and gender identity, among others. In today’s guidance, the coalition affirms that educational institutions should – and can – continue to foster diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility among their student bodies. They clarify that the President cannot change longstanding legal precedent by executive order, and a Dear Colleague letter certainly cannot do so. 

Attorney General Bonta, along with a similar coalition, previously issued guidance to help businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations understand the viability and importance of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility policies and practices in creating and maintaining legally compliant and thriving workplaces.

Attorney General Bonta is committed to ensuring California schools remain a welcoming, inclusive, safe place for all students. Last month, Attorney General Bonta responded to the Trump Administration’s executive order targeting transgender, nonbinary, intersex, and gender nonconforming students, reiterating that federal and state protections against discrimination remain firmly in place. In the wake of new concerns of immigration enforcement on school campuses, the Attorney General highlighted guidance to students, families, educators, and school officials that provides practical guidance on how to respond if an immigration officer comes to campus and on students’ educational rights and protections under the law.

Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont in issuing this guidance.

A copy of the guidance for schools is available here.