The U.S. Department of Justice has sued the Rhode Island Department of Education and the Providence Public School District, alleging that a student loan forgiveness program unlawfully discriminates against white teachers.

The lawsuit targets the “Educators of Color Loan Forgiveness Program,” which offers up to $25,000 in student loan repayment to teachers who identify as black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, or multiracial. White teachers are not eligible for the program.

The program began in 2021 through a partnership among the Providence school district, the Rhode Island Department of Education, and the Rhode Island Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds the loan payments, according to the complaint.

The Justice Department argues that this arrangement violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by excluding teachers based on race.

“Helping new teachers pay off their student loans may be a worthy endeavor for public school districts. But excluding white teachers is racist and unlawful,” the Justice Department wrote in its complaint, filed September 16 in U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island in Providence.

The defendants – the state of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Department of Education, and the Providence School District – had not filed a response to the complaint in court as of midday Friday, October 17. Spokesmen for the Rhode Island Department of Education and the Providence public schools did not respond to requests for comment by New Boston Post.

In the lawsuit, the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking a court order halting the program and any similar race-based efforts, as well as relief for teachers excluded from the program because of their race.

The complaint says the program was intended to help the district “recruit and retain up to 127 teachers of color” over five years and was designed to increase staff diversity. Teachers who qualified could receive up to $6,000 after one year, $8,500 after two years, and $10,500 after three years in the district.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said the program violates federal law.

“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,” she said in a written statement.

The program has existed in Providence since the 2021-2022 school year, with applications accepted each year since.

The Justice Department alleges that only teachers who identify as “teachers of color” have received payments and that nearly 500 white teachers hired during the same period were ineligible for any benefits under the program.

The Justice Department’s complaint asks the court to declare the program illegal, permanently block its enforcement, and ensure that future hiring and benefits decisions in Rhode Island public education are made without regard to race.

The Providence Public School District serves about 19,400 students across 37 schools. It employs more than 3,600 staff members, including roughly 1,800 teachers. The student body is majority Latino, with about 69 percent of students identifying as such. Meanwhile, 14 percent of the students are black, 6.5 percent are white, 4 percent are Asian, 5.5 percent are multiracial, and 1 percent are Native American, according to the district's web site.

Providence, the capital and largest city in Rhode Island, has about 190,000 people.