DOJ spent more than $100M on 'restorative justice,' DEI measures for K-12 students during Biden presidency

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) awarded over $100 million in grants to promote restorative justice and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) measures over the course of the Biden administration, according to a conservative watchdog.

Parents Defending Education (PDE) released the report on Thursday, which found that from 2021 to 2024, millions of dollars were spent on federal funding in 36 states and 946 K-12 school districts, serving over three million students to promote restorative justice practices, social emotional learning and DEI in the classroom with many projects aimed at improving school climates for specific demographic groups, such as LGBTQ+ and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color).

The DOJ's STOP School Violence Program provides grant money to nonprofits, school districts, and city and state governments in an effort "to increase school safety by implementing solutions that will improve school climate." But, PDE argues that the DOJ actually aims to replace exclusionary discipline with restorative practices and social emotional learning (SEL).

Social emotional learning is advertised as a way to teach students social skills in support of their mental health and emotional well-being, but it has been criticized as a way to implement controversial topics like Critical Race Theory and Gender Theory. As a result, it has become a point of contention among parents, teachers and politicians who advocate for a strong academic emphasis at school and against classroom discussions that they feel should be left up to parents' discretion at home. 

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The Department of Justice spent over $100M on 'restorative justice,' DEI measures for students.  (iStock)

PDE describes exclusionary discipline as a process that removes the disruptor from the classroom, allowing the rest of the class to continue learning. Restorative practices, in contrast, often disrupt class time for more students, as both the offender(s) and victim(s) in a conflict are brought together to discuss what happened and "repair harm," PDE states. 

The report breaks down the grants into four categories: general, DEI, consulting/certification and hiring. For example, consultants hired by the DOJ aimed to "educate students or staff on [a] changing school climate" and promote concepts like critical race theory, critical gender theory and queer theory, according to PDE's analysis. Over $10 million was allocated to hiring new administrators for DEI roles like "restorative justice facilitators."

Outside organizations brought in to train students and staff on the proposed subject include CASEL, the International Institute for Restorative Practices, Second Step, and Courageous Conversations About Race.

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Second-graders hold their heads as they talk about "thoughts" and how they compare with "feelings" and resulting "actions," at Paw Paw Elementary School.  (AP Photo/Martha Irvine)

"Words matter, and this report highlights how the Biden administration chose to deliberately hijack a school safety program to fund their pet programs," Nicole Neily, president and founder of PDE, told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

"It’s hard to imagine that ‘school climate’ would ever be improved by the creation of racially-segregated programming or hiring teachers on the basis of skin color - if anything, these programs only lead to more animosity and tension between students."

Notable examples of grants rewarded include $2 million from the DOJ to "create safe learning environments where practices of anti-racism and anti-oppression are embedded" at the Minnesota Department of Education, $1,853,070 awarded to Bowling Green State University to develop student mental health curriculum in rural and high-poverty districts, which includes activities like "mindfulness meditation, yoga, and knitting circles," $1,785,773 for Penn State University to decrease cyberbullying in Central Pennsylvania K-12 schools, providing an opportunity "to meaningfully advance equity in violence prevention for communities historically underserved, marginalized, adversely affected by inequality, and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization (People of Color (POC), women, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ community)."

Neily told Fox News Digital in her statement that the grant program is intended to "recognize, respond quickly to, and prevent acts of violence." This, she said, is why it’s "so infuriating that projects like knitting circles were given the green light." 

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Department of Justice  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Other examples include a collaborative program between Temple University and the School District of Philadelphia, allocating $1,688,668 in an attempt to prevent violence by teaching at-risk youth about "community policing, trauma informed conflict emphasizing racial/historical and intergenerational trauma, impacts of social media on conflict and conflict escalation and management, anti-bias education, restorative practices." 

A million dollars was granted to Reach Out West End in Upland, California to fund a project to improve school safety in Jurupa Valley Unified School District with content "on LGBTQIA+ issues aligned with SB 857, mental/behavioral health, substance use prevention and/or conflict mediation." Another $1,000,000 was given to Ocean County in New Jersey to "reduce the acceptability of teasing, oppression, and all forms of violence." 

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Nearly $1 million was awarded to Milwaukee Public School’s board of directors to "promote racial equity" through activities like "racial equity seminars" and student-led focus groups "to dismantle institutionalized barriers and promote inclusive school climates," the DOJ announcement of the grant reads. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ for comment.