Sept 16 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on Tuesday alleging that a Rhode Island student loan forgiveness program designed to boost racial diversity in the Providence schools’ faculty unlawfully discriminated against white teachers.
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The lawsuit takes aim at a loan forgiveness program that provides up to $25,000 in student debt repayments for teachers of color working in the Providence Public School District for three years.
In a complaint filed in federal court in Providence, Rhode Island, the Justice Department said the Rhode Island Department of Education, the school district and a nonprofit agreed to set up the program in 2021 to boost diversity in a district where, according to state data, nearly 73% of teachers are white.
The program was designed to help recruit new teachers who identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian or multiracial and has accepted applications for at least four academic years, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit claims that the program unlawfully barred white people from applying for loan forgiveness. Since 2021, the district has hired 491 non-minority teachers, none of whom received student loan repayment funds, according to the complaint.
The Justice Department alleges that by excluding white teachers, the Democratic-led state and the school district were engaging in a pattern or practice of race discrimination in public employment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“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 Dhillon, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction barring the program from being implemented on the basis of race. Representatives for the state and school district did not respond to requests for comment.
The case is United States v. State of Rhode Island, U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, No. 1:25-cv-00466.
For the United States: Hilary Pinion and Robert Galbreath of the U.S. Department of Justice
Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston