Rhode Island faced federal lawsuit for race-based teacher loan forgiveness program that provides up to $25,000 in debt relief exclusively to educators of color.
The Department of Justice is suing the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) and the Providence Public School District (PPSD) over a program that only offers student loan forgiveness to non-White educators.
"While assisting new teachers in paying off their student loans may be a worthy cause, such a benefit of employment simply cannot be granted or withheld on the basis of the teachers’ race," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a Tuesday press release.
"We will not tolerate such plainly prohibited discrimination in employment," Dhillon added.
In 2022, the Legal Insurrection Foundation, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit investigative and research group, filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against the Providence Public School District.
The organization alleged that the Providence Public School District provided a program giving student loan forgiveness to new teachers available only to non-White educators.
The complaint said the district "engaged in a continuing violation and an ongoing pattern or practice of discrimination" with a student loan forgiveness program for newly and recently hired educators that is only accessible to non-White applicants.
The Providence Public School District reportedly said that recipients can have up to $25,000 of college loans forgiven once the teacher completes three consecutive years of teaching in the district. Eligibility requirements indicate recipients must "identify as Asian, Black, Indigenous, Latino, biracial, or multi-racial."
A July final determination letter from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, requires that if violations are found, the Providence Public School District must work to bring a resolution.
It directed the Providence Public School District to contact the EEOC "within ten days upon your receipt of this letter to indicate your willingness to participate in EEOC’s conciliation program to address the violation noted in this letter of determination."
"Over the last few months, PPSD and RIDE worked in good faith with the U.S. Department of Justice to reach a resolution on this matter," a joint statement to Fox News Digital from a senior official at the PPSD on the lawsuit, read. "PPSD and RIDE officials have not been served, and we were not informed by federal representatives that they would proceed with a lawsuit. Since there is active litigation, PPSD and RIDE will not be commenting further."
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In a Tuesday statement to Fox News Digital, William Jacobson, Cornell law professor and founder of the Equal Protection Project, said he is glad the DOJ is pursuing legal action against a program he calls "racist."
"The Equal Protection Project of the Rhode Island non-profit Legal Insurrection Foundation applauds the U.S. Department of Justice filing suit in federal court regarding the clearly racist Educator of Color Loan Forgiveness Program that ran in the Providence Public School District," Jacobson said.
"The case arises out of a civil rights complaint originally filed at the U.S. Department of Education by the Legal Insurrection Foundation and pursued for over two years by the foundation and its Equal Protection Project," Jacobson added. "The Educator of Color Program was created in cooperation with the Rhode Island Foundation, and openly discriminated against White teachers. We hope that the responsible parties will be held legally accountable, and that the role of the Rhode Island Foundation will be the subject of further legal efforts by DOJ."
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