Strength in Diversity Act of 2025

Key Points

• This bill creates a new federal grant program called the Strength in Diversity Program, aimed at reducing racial and economic isolation in public schools and publicly funded early childhood education programs.
• School districts, state education agencies, and regional education agencies with significant achievement gaps and segregation can apply for competitive planning grants (up to 2 years) or implementation grants (up to 3 years, extendable to 5).
• Grant recipients can use the money for strategies like changing school boundaries, creating weighted lotteries, coordinating with housing and transportation agencies, hiring diverse teachers, and developing new student assignment plans.
• The bill gives top priority to programs that address racial isolation, followed by programs that span multiple school districts and those that coordinate with local housing and transportation departments.
• Schools receiving grants must track progress on outcomes like student achievement, graduation rates, school readiness, and actual increases in diversity, reporting annually to the Secretary of Education.
• The bill authorizes funding for fiscal year 2025 through 2030, but does not specify a dollar amount, leaving the actual spending levels to future appropriations decisions.