ATLANTA — The Southern Education Foundation (SEF) has filed an administrative appeal challenging the Trump administration’s Feb. 13 decision to eliminate the Equity Assistance Center-South (EAC-South), a federally funded center based at SEF.
Until last month, EAC-South provided critical resources and expertise to school districts across 11 states and the District of Columbia—at the direct request from school districts. The center’s work focused on helping schools address inequities that have persisted from the nation’s legacy of racial segregation in public education. EAC-South provided expert training and consultation and online workshops to help schools tackle issues such as teacher shortages, lack of education resources, school-family engagement, and many other challenges in education that are unfortunate vestiges of segregation that have present day harmful effects on student learning.
Originally called Desegregation Assistance Centers, EAC-South is one of the four Equity Assistance Centers across the nation. These centers were created to help school districts comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decisions in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Brown II (1955).
“Eliminating these centers and their work is a direct attack on the achievements of the Black Civil Rights Movement that led to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act,” said SEF President and CEO Raymond C. Pierce. “The administration’s attempt to close these centers is alarming, unprecedented, and clearly unconstitutional. It abdicates the federal government’s legal and fiduciary responsibility to help school districts address educational inequities and provide greater education opportunities for our students.”
Today, 132 school districts across the U.S. remain under federal desegregation orders—130 of them in the South. Several of these districts sought assistance from EAC-South in the past two years, underscoring the ongoing need for federal oversight and support. SEF applied for and accepted a U.S. Department of Education grant solely to address and resolve the longstanding federal school desegregation cases that continue to hinder progress in public education.
Despite this critical work of resolving our nation’s desegregation issues as authorized by the U.S. Congress, the administration falsely claimed that EAC-South’s focus was on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. EAC-South, operated by SEF, is not a DEI program. It is a technical assistance program authorized by Congress to bring school districts in compliance with the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education. SEF remains committed to advocating for educational opportunity, supporting school districts, and improving public education.
