The Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit in Providence on Tuesday against the Providence Public School District and the Rhode Island Department of Education, charging they discriminate against white teachers in their loan forgiveness program for teachers.
The “Educators of Color Loan Forgiveness Program” that only forgives up to $25,000 of teachers’ student loans who are “Black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, and/or 2 or more races” but not white teachers is being complained about.
Created in 2021 in collaboration with the Rhode Island Foundation, the program provides up to 127 “teachers of color” in the Providence Public School District with up to $3,175,000 over at least five years to recruit and retain them.
“While assisting new teachers to retire student loans might be a worthy endeavor, such an employment benefit simply cannot be granted or withheld based on the race of the teachers,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
The government argues that race-based exclusion violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and constitutes a practice of employment discrimination against non–“teachers of color.”
The Justice Department is seeking a court order declaring the program racially discriminatory, an injunction barring Rhode Island and Providence from operating race-based programs, and equitable relief for affected teachers.
The suit follows an investigation by the Civil Rights Division’s Employment Litigation Section.
The Providence Public School District and the Rhode Island Department of Education did not immediately comment.
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