The DOJ’s Civil Rights Office sent a letter on March 21 to Providence Public Schools and the Rhode Island Department of Education that it was investigating whether their employment practices classified as discrimination.
The Educator of Color Loan Forgiveness Program provides student loan forgiveness to teachers of color through a grant from the nonprofit Rhode Island Foundation.
Only teachers who “identify as Asian, Black, Indigenous, Latino, biracial, or multi-racial” and had at least $5,000 in student loans were eligible for the program. They also had to a full-time teacher. Recipients could receive up to $25,000 in student loan forgiveness after completing three years of teaching in the district.
Legal Insurrection Foundation, a nonprofit group focused on investigating discrimination in education, filed a complaint with the Department of Education in November 2022 asserting that the grant program was discriminating against white educators. In February 2023, LIF received notice that the case was picked up by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. However, no action was taken for nearly two years.
“It sat for basically two years,” William Jacobson, president and director of LIF, told the Washington Examiner. “We kept following up. We were assured they were gathering records from the school district and the state, that it was being investigated internally, but nothing ever happened.”
Jacobson said he speculated that the Education Department under the Biden administration intentionally stalled action on LIF’s complaint, pointing to executive orders that supported former President Joe Biden’s equity goals.
“So this program that the Providence schools were doing in conjunction with the Rhode Island Foundation was consistent with Biden’s racial equity agenda,” Jacobson said. “I believe that is why the EEOC never acted on it because this is what the Biden administration apparently wanted entities to do, which is to discriminate in order to achieve what they call racial equity, which are essentially quotas.”
Jacobson said the loan forgiveness program is a clear violation of civil rights and the 14th Amendment as the Rhode Island school district engaged in “open discrimination in terms of hiring and employment.” He alleged it was “scandalous” that the Biden administration did not move forward with the case, and he celebrated the Trump administration taking over.
“Once the Trump administration took over the EEOC, we got the announcement that the Justice Department was investigating when this was a very serious case,” Jacobson said. “It should have been acted on by the Biden administration, but it wasn’t, and we’re very pleased and appreciative that the Trump Department of Justice has opened a matter on it.”
The Providence Public School District told Fox News Digital that it is an “equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, national origin or other protected status.” The letter stated that the grant was created in 2021 to attract more diverse teachers to align with the nonwhite student population.
“Increasing the diversity of our teaching force is not only aligned with the core values of the District, but also has a direct, positive impact on student outcomes as demonstrated by years of educational research,” Providence Public Schools Superintendent Javier Montañez wrote in a letter to the school board.
“This loan forgiveness program was created with the best interest of students in mind to ensure that our students are taught by individuals to whom they can both identify and relate as well as those who are talented and skilled in their academic craft,” he added.
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Jacobson is now urging the DOJ to open an investigation into the Rhode Island Foundation, which he argues has a track record of peddling grants that promote racial discrimination. The Rhode Island Foundation is the largest charity in the state with total revenue above $1 billion.
“This is not just about a school district doing something wrong,” Jacobson stated. “This is about the largest charity by far in the state of Rhode Island, which is funding this, and we think that calls for the Department of Justice to look into it to determine whether the Rhode Island Foundation itself committed civil rights violations and what will be done about it because a lot of the discrimination that we have seen around the country is funded by private foundations.”
