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The U.S. Department of Education has terminated millions of dollars worth of grants after influential conservative activist Christopher Rufo posted snippets of training materials paid for with those grants on the social media site X.
Rufo, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, popularized the idea that critical race theory had infiltrated American schools and government. He has a combative social media presence and talks openly about his strategies for shifting public discourse.
On Tuesday, Rufo made a series of posts showing screenshots of an academic paper on designing more inclusive curriculum to counter white overrepresentation in STEM fields, video of Indigenous educators discussing de-centering whiteness in school settings, and video of a trainer telling teachers to avoid gendered language when addressing students.
“The Department of Education has granted more than $200 million to 21 ‘comprehensive centers’ that push left-wing ideologies in local districts,” Rufo wrote in one post Tuesday morning. “They believe America’s schools are systems of ‘institutionalized privilege’ and that there are too many ‘White students’ in STEM.”
Billionaire Elon Musk responded with two exclamation points.
“This is taxpayer-funded witchcraft. It must be defunded,” Rufo wrote in another post Tuesday afternoon.
He then tagged one of the X accounts of the U.S. DOGE Service — Musk’s cost-cutting team that has wreaked havoc on the federal bureaucracy — in his next post: “Hey @DOGE_ED, let’s terminate the contracts for the ‘comprehensive centers.’ What do you think?”
Within 24 hours, the Education Department had done just that. In a press release, the department said it had cancelled 18 grants worth a total of $226 million that had funded the Comprehensive Centers Program.
“These grants went to a network of regional and national centers funded to provide scalable ‘capacity-building’ services to states and systems within their regions, including reports and convenings to improve instructional materials and educational outcomes,” the press release said. “Instead, Comprehensive Centers have been forcing radical agendas onto states and systems, including race-based discrimination and gender identity ideology.”
As evidence, the press release linked to Rufo’s X posts.
Rufo had shared the news on social media even before the press release went out.
“Winning,” he wrote.
The posts are part of a larger strategy of using diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts to justify dismantling swaths of the federal government — including the Education Department — with conservative activists and social media influencing decisions at a rapid pace.
Rufo teased last week that he had a large trove of material that he would roll out once “Department of Education” started trending on X.
“The idea is to wait for the moment of maximum drama and public attention, then flood the zone with viral content that can help the administration abolish the DOE. Soon,” he wrote on Feb. 12.
That was the day before Linda McMahon’s confirmation hearing, which focused attention on President Donald Trump’s plans to eliminate the department. DOGE had already canceled a large number of research contracts.
Rufo began to post a series of videos and screenshots of teacher trainings and presentations that covered anti-racist pedagogy and support for transgender youth. Other conservative commentators shared Rufo’s posts, describing them as evidence the Education Department’s “permanent bureaucracy needs to be annihilated.” They said the grants had been used to push ideologies far outside the mainstream into American classrooms with taxpayer support.
“I’m hearing murmurs that the @DOGE team is following my posts about the Department of Education,” Rufo posted on Feb. 13.
The terminations of grants and contracts picked up steam as Rufo continued to post. Swept away: Regional Equity Centers that had their origins in desegregation efforts, Regional Education Laboratories that design research projects in cooperation with states and school districts, and millions in teacher training grants. Inside Higher Ed noted that Rufo’s posts preceded those earlier rounds of cuts.
People who worked on the canceled projects said the vast majority of work related to core education issues, such as reading, writing, math, and career pathways. Equity initiatives were designed to make sure all students benefitted.
What did the Comprehensive Centers do?
Comprehensive Centers Programs go back decades and are authorized by Congress. The program included a national center and 14 regional centers whose staff members helped state education departments and school districts on school improvement, teacher retention, and other priorities. Teams at four content centers provide specialized support focused on English language learners, early school success, fiscal equity, and strengthening the educator workforce.
The comprehensive center grants run for five-year periods and were just re-issued last year.
The Education Department did not respond to questions about who made the decision to cancel the grants and what criteria they used.
Rufo could not be reached for comment.
Program priorities described in the Federal Register include addressing the teacher shortage, improving the quality of instruction, building career pathways, encouraging parent engagement, and helping student groups with distinct needs, such as English learners, refugee students, and those with disabilities.
The termination letters that went out to the grantees — universities and large research organizations — said the department’s priority is to eliminate discrimination. That includes not funding programs that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in any form.
“The grant is therefore inconsistent with, and no longer effectuates, Department priorities,” the letter states.
Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.
