Image CreditBreccan F. Thies / The Federalist
The U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into Chicago Public Schools (CPS) for alleged racial discrimination in its “Black Student Success Plan,” which reportedly only focuses on the academic achievement of black students.
The Title VI investigation comes after education advocacy organization Defending Education filed a complaint with the department’s Office for Civil Rights in February. The Education Department’s press release states that the “Black Student Success Plan” deals with “remedial measures only for black students, despite acknowledging that Chicago students of all races struggle academically.”
“Chicago Public Schools have a record of academic failure, leaving students from all backgrounds and races struggling and ill-prepared to meet the challenges and enjoy the rewards of contemporary American life,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said. “Rather than address its record honestly, CPS seeks to allocate additional resources to favored students on the basis of race. The Trump-McMahon Department of Education will not allow federal funds, provided for the benefit of all students, to be used in this pernicious and unlawful manner.”
“To CPS, I say this: Every American student deserves access to a quality education, and the Trump Administration will fight tirelessly to uphold that ideal and ensure all students are treated equally under law,” he added.
Also in February, the department sent a notice to state education officials that they will no longer be allowed to have programs that exclude people based on race or make race-based hiring decisions, as had become the norm for diversity, equity, and inclusion-crazed school districts. Some states, schools, and left-wing interest groups have attempted to fight the directive.
Chicago is no different, and its Democrat mayor, Brandon Johnson, threatened to sue the Trump administration if it cut its $1.3 billion (about 16 percent of CPS’s annual budget) in federal funding due to the city’s DEI obsession.
The state got involved as well, with the Illinois State Board of Education sending a letter to the Education Department claiming it was in compliance with Title VI and that it really has no idea what the Trump administration means by DEI — the common refrain from left-wing protectors of the ideology, despite the fact that what is meant by “DEI” is well documented.
The state board also has an entire page dedicated to its commitment to the ideology, and CPS has an “Office of Equity” complete with a DEI resource guide.
“No student should be denied an educational opportunity because of the color of their skin, yet perversely, that’s exactly what Chicago Public Schools has chosen to do — despite the fact that the district’s own data clearly demonstrates that students of all races are struggling academically,” Nicole Neily, president and founder of Defending Education, said in the department press release. “Amid abysmal proficiency rates, discipline crises, and a nearly $10 billion budget deficit, district leaders made a conscious decision to allocate finite resources to some students and not others — and we are grateful that the Department of Education has opened an investigation into this injustice.”
Chicago has deeper racial issues than just its “Black Student Success Plan.” Its entire curriculum was revamped in order to inject DEI and critical race theory indoctrination into the minds of young Americans.
Parts of the curriculum are squarely focused on destroying Western society and undercutting its academic traditions in favor of things like oral tradition because they claim academia has been “colonized.”
Breccan F. Thies is a correspondent for The Federalist. He previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.
