California school district spends over $900K on DEI programs

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(The Center Square) – California’s Merced City School District has spent $913,423 on consultants for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, according to documents provided by Defending Education.

The contracts, provided by the nonprofit Defending Education, includes an “African American Affinity Group” for 100 African American students and a summer “Rap Camp.” The cost to facilitate those programs is estimated at $270,000.

In one of its signature programs, titled “Moor than a Month,” song lyrics modeled after those of hip-hop group Migos reference what the program describes as “white male skew” in history education.

“This tracks for you every teacher and parent you need this truth our history books have a white male skew but believe me I ain’t blaming you,” the song lyrics say. 

The district serves about 11,400 students and has a student-teacher ratio of 25-to-1. According to data from the website Niche, about 20% of students are proficient in math and 33% in reading, giving the district an overall grade of C. 

The school board previewed a 2026 contract proposal from School Yard Rap on Dec. 9, 2025, and approved it at a Jan. 13, 2026, meeting.

“Any discretionary money should be focused on targeted interventions and remediation for the huge percentage of students who remained below grade level in reading and math,” Erika Sanzi, senior director of communications for Defending Education, told The Center Square. “Spending nearly a million dollars on programs based around identity and activism is indefensible and, in the case of their affinity groups, also illegal.”

The school district told Fox News it "proudly supports the partnership" with School Yard Rap, which fosters "a unique approach to education by engaging students through music, media, interactive assemblies and much more.”

In June, the board also approved a $276,000 contract with the organization to provide programming and what the district described as a “high-quality, equitable education.”

The Center Square reached out to the Merced School District for a comment, but has not received a response.