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May 9, 2024

3 entries on this date.

Iowa Gov. Reynolds signed SF2435 banning DEI offices at public universities

On May 9, 2024, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed SF2435, an education-appropriations act whose Division IX bars public universities governed by the state Board of Regents from establishing or staffing diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, requiring DEI statements, or spending any funds to support such offices. The law defines prohibited DEI to reach trainings and programming designed with reference to race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation, and forbids institutions from taking official positions on contested concepts including "transgender ideology" and "gender theory." Enforcement runs through attorney-general mandamus actions, with the DEI provisions taking effect July 1, 2025.

Shenandoah County, Virginia school board voted to restore Confederate-general names to two public schools

On May 9, 2024, the Shenandoah County School Board in Virginia voted 5-1 to reverse a 2020 decision and restore Confederate-general names to two public schools, renaming Mountain View High School back to Stonewall Jackson High School and Honey Run Elementary back to Ashby Lee Elementary. The Virginia NAACP and the families of affected Black students sued, and a federal judge later found the renaming could not be divorced from racial discrimination and violated students' constitutional and civil rights.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1810 requiring schools to report students' gender-identity requests to parents

On May 9, 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1810, enacted as Public Chapter 832, amending Title 49 of the Tennessee Code. The law requires a K-12 public school or charter school employee to report a student's request for an accommodation affirming the student's gender identity — such as a different name or pronouns — to a school administrator, who must then report it to the student's parent. It also bars employees from knowingly giving parents false or misleading information about a student's gender identity and creates a private right of action alongside attorney general enforcement against noncompliant schools.