Texas State University got caught on camera calling its diversity statement a “teaching philosophy” to dodge the law. New York has apparently been watching.
The New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus released its 2026-2027 People’s Budget Framework this spring. The document funds $250,000 for “inclusive teaching resources” in K-12 classrooms addressing “racial and cultural inclusivity.” It allocates $4 million to the Associated Medical Schools of New York’s Diversity in Medicine program and $1.25 million in scholarships. It calls for a civil service exam study to identify “potential discriminatory effects on minority examinees” and a Downstate MWBE Center for procurement diversity.
The words “diversity, equity, and inclusion” do not appear. The words “equity,” “representation,” “culturally responsive,” and “workforce diversity” appear throughout. The policy architecture is identical.
Townhall’s Gregory Lyakhov, writing in late May, noted that New York is doing at the state legislative level what Texas State did in a hallway conversation: keep the programs, change the vocabulary, and trust nobody reads closely. The state faces a genuine educational crisis. Only 31 percent of New York fourth-graders tested at or above proficient in reading on the 2024 national assessment. Twenty-six percent of eighth-graders reached proficiency in math.
The People’s Budget does not allocate funds to address either of those numbers directly. It allocates funds for inclusive teaching resources and diversity medicine scholarships. The priorities are what they are.
Texas State’s director of diversity studies explained her workaround to a hidden camera. New York’s legislative caucus put theirs in a public budget document.
If the policy survives by changing its name, was the argument ever really about the name?
Sources
Townhall: DEI Is Not Disappearing. New York Is Just Renaming It
