What counts as a D.E.I. program in a school? And how do such programs differ from simply learning and talking about race and identity?

Those questions have been central to local education debates over the past five years. Now, they are most likely to become even more pressing, after the Trump administration notified all 50 states on Thursday that public schools could lose federal funding if they engage in the use of D.E.I. to “advantage one’s race over another.”

The letter presents the…