The Justice Department Tuesday called a Rhode Island student loan forgiveness program for teachers of color “racist and unlawful” in its lawsuit seeking to end the program designed to boost teacher diversity in Providence.
The government said the Rhode Island Department of Education’s partnership with the Providence Public School District and the Rhode Island Foundation to allow student loan repayments of up to $25,000 violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act because it doesn’t allow White teachers to apply.
“This is race discrimination in public employment, pure and simple,” the government said in the complaint filed in US District ...