The Indiana Family Institute (IFI) performed a comprehensive audit that details lingering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) frameworks still in place across the Indiana Public School system.
“Unfortunately, modern DEI practices undermine principles of true diversity, inclusion, and equality by emphasizing division, group identity, and unequal treatment in the name of equity and inclusion. Rather than fostering unity, DEI frameworks often encourage resentment, categorize individuals as oppressors or the oppressed, and shift focus away from merit, personal responsibility, and shared citizenship,” wrote IFI Executive Director Ryan McCann in the audit’s foreword.
In January 2025, Gov. Mike Braun issued Executive Order 25-14, “which eliminated DEI initiatives across Indiana’s state government. The order directed agencies to replace DEI initiatives with ‘Merit, Excellence, and Innovation’ (MEI),” as noted in the audit.
Indiana legislators also passed Senate Enrolled Act (SEA) 289, which strictly “prohibit[s] schools and public institutions from requiring training or lessons” in DEI. Under state and federal legislation, all Indiana public school corporations and charter school networks must certify that they are not operating unlawful DEI programs or using federal funds for identity-based training, staffing, or programming.
The legislation looked like a step in the right direction for many concerned families who had voiced their concerns about the DEI ideologies present in their children’s curriculum. However, while working in the Indiana attorney general’s office, Corrine Youngs heard reports from several parents that DEI was still hiding in plain sight at their local schools.
“Most parents did not realize this was going on until Covid. I don’t think people realized what their kids were learning until they were listening to it during lockdown,” Youngs told The Federalist. “I think parents wanted to see if the executive orders would actually effectively strip DEI out of schools, and from this audit you can see that it has not.”
Youngs is an attorney and founder of Praxis Advocacy, which conducted the audit with Indiana Family Institute using materials from schools and parent testimonials gathered throughout the 2025-2026 school year. While working in the Indiana attorney general’s office, Youngs served as policy director and helped develop the “Eyes on Education Portal,” where parents, students, or teachers can submit feedback or concerns about policies, programs, or teaching activities at their schools.
“From my discussion with parents, I think that the public may be under the impression that since the federal and state government issued these executive orders or passed DEI legislation, that these policies automatically removed DEI from schools. That’s not the case. A lot of that language is written very narrowly and maybe got rid of some aspects but not all,” Youngs told The Federalist.
The audit reviewed 12 different public school districts across Indiana and uncovered trends of embedded DEI frameworks within the schools.
A look at the 2023-2027 Strategic Plan for Anderson Community School Corporation (ACSC) found ACSC “changed administrative titles without any corresponding change in personnel responsibilities to avoid explicit DEI labeling,” according to the report.
ACSC changed its organizational chart, apparently after the governor initiated the executive order; however, “the only apparent modification was to the job title of administrative faculty,” the audit reports.
The strategic plan for Indianapolis Public Schools, which was released in April of 2025, continues to make promoting racial equity a priority. “IPS governance documents also affirm Black Lives Matter, commit to reducing expulsions and arrests, and direct recruitment of Black teachers,” the audit found.
“We’re wondering where this is coming from?” Youngs told The Federalist. “And we realized it’s coming from IDOE Course Catalog.”
The audit examined the role of the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) in shaping district-level curriculum decisions, with particular attention to the High-Quality Curricular Materials (HQCM) advisory lists.
One such example was the “widely adopted” “Wit & Wisdom,” a K–8 English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum published by Great Minds and recommended by the IDOE.
The audit found that content from the kindergarten modules of “Wit & Wisdom” had young students “engage with visual art and media commonly taught through race and class lenses.” The media included paintings from Diego Rivera, “an avowed communist painter whose murals and canvases consistently portray class struggle and colonial oppression,” according to the audit.
In response to an inquiry from The Federalist, a representative from the Indiana Department of Education said that the IDOE “is committed to equipping schools and parents with the data, resources, and guidance necessary to help our students achieve academic and lifelong success.”
“In summer 2025, we completed a more than 400-page report detailing the significant progress made across all education agencies to ensure compliance with state and federal laws and regulations related to DEI,” Courtney Bearsch, chief communications officer for the IDOE, told The Federalist.
Bearsch says the IDOE has addressed “many of the assertions raised” in the audit, such as the “Understanding Diversity and Relationships and Emotions” class, which she said was removed from the state course catalog in December 2025.
“For more than a year, the department has also maintained an established process for parents and schools to elevate concerns regarding any materials included on the state’s published High-Quality Curricular Materials lists,” Bearsch told The Federalist. “To date, we have not received any submissions through this process. The department continues to review all state standards, programs, and requirements to ensure complete alignment with state and federal laws and regulations, and most importantly, to support our schools in focusing on the work that we know improves outcomes for Hoosiers.”
Youngs says that the audit she conducted is “parent instigated,” and goes far deeper than the DEI found in curriculum in schools.
“I’ve had several parents contact Indiana Family Institute about bathroom issues in the state where their child has encountered the opposite gender in a private space and felt uncomfortable about it,” Youngs told The Federalist. “So it’s still happening here.”
The audit includes parent-provided photographs of LGBT-propaganda signage still on display at Indiana schools.
“Some things have changed, some things have been cleaned up, but some things have not and are deeply embedded into the structure of the mission and vision of these schools,” Youngs told The Federalist. “It’s going to take many layers of review.”
The audit also proposes a list of recommendations on how to more effectively eliminate lingering DEI, including: “contract[ing] a third-party consultant to conduct independent school audits,” “increas[ing] parental engagement in DEI oversight,” “pass[ing] comprehensive laws” tailored to dismantle DEI at the district level, and “order[ing] a third-party audit of the Indiana Department of Education.”
“It’s clear that the intent from these policies was to get rid of DEI, but that didn’t necessarily happen so we need to audit the schools and the curriculum, see what teachers are doing, and chip away at DEI because it’s so embedded,” Youngs told The Federalist.
