Justice Department Sues Rhode Island Department of Education and Providence Public School District for Racial Discrimination Against Teachers

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit today against the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) and the Providence Public School District (PPSD) over their “Educators of Color Loan Forgiveness Program” (Program) through which new PPSD teachers who identify as “teachers of color” can receive up to $25,000 in student loan forgiveness while only white teachers are excluded from the Program.

In its complaint, the United States alleges that RIDE and PPSD established the Program in 2021, in partnership with the Rhode Island Foundation (RIF), a publicly supported non-profit organization, to provide $3,175,000 in student loan forgiveness to “teachers of color” over at least five years. The Program is described as an “incentive” to “encourage teachers of color” to teach at PPSD and obliges PPSD to “recruit and retain up to 127 teachers of color” during that period. Under the Program, “Teachers of color” includes teachers “who identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, and/or 2 or more races” and excludes only white teachers. In its complaint, the United States alleges that this race-based exclusion is a pattern or practice of discrimination of PPSD teachers who do not identify as “teachers of color” in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended. The complaint asks the court to declare that the Program discriminates on the basis of race, to enter a permanent injunction against RIDE and PPSD stopping them from implementing the Program or any similar race-based program, and to award equitable relief to PPSD teachers who were not eligible for the Program solely because of their race.           

“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,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. “We will not tolerate such plainly prohibited discrimination in employment.”

This case stems from an investigation launched by the Employment Litigation Section of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.

You can view the complaint here.