EEOC Moves Against Providence Schools Over Discrimination Against White Teachers, After Years Of Effort By Equal Protection Project

EEOC Moves Against Providence Schools Over Discrimination Against White Teachers, After Years Of Effort By Equal Protection Project

You may remember the Educator of Color Loan Forgiveness Program in the Providence Public School District (PPSD), created and funded in conjunction with the Rhode Island Foundation, the largest charity in the state.

In November 2022, Legal Insurrection Foundation filed a complaint about this clearly racist program and LIF together with the later formed Equal Protection Project have been pushing forward ever since. Here are some of our posts for background:

• Providence (RI) Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program Only Open To Non-Whites Challenged By Legal Insurrection Foundation [extensive documentation on the program]
• Black Community Activists Support Legal Insurrection’s Challenge To Providence School’s Anti-White Hiring Incentives [black community leaders speak out against the program]
• Providence (RI) Schools Continue Anti-White New Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program As Investigation Moves To EEOC [more documentation as to the continuation of the program after our complaint]
• Rhode Island Foundation Stands By Funding Providence Teacher Hiring Program That Discriminates Against Whites
• The Rhode Island Foundation’s Discriminatory Grantmaking Warrants Civil Rights Investigation [our call for an investigation of the Rhode Island Foundation]
• “Extremely Thankful” DOJ Taking Action Against Providence Schools “Educators of Color Loan Forgiveness Program” [US DOJ Investigation, summary of background on the case]

The DOJ opened an investigation in March 2025, and now the EEOC has taken a major step forward, issuing a “Final Determination” that there was “reasonable cause” to believe PPSD violated the civil rights laws. This is a necessary step on the road to what may be a federal court lawsuit by DOJ if “conciliation” efforts fail.

The EEOC Final Determination provides in pertinent part (emphasis added):

Charging Party claims that since 2021, Respondent has engaged in a pattern and practice of employment discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin. Charging Party alleges that Respondent engaged in a pattern and practice of denying the hiring and offering of favorable terms and conditions of employment to applicants and employees on the basis of their race, White. Charging Party further alleges Respondent offered favorable terms and conditions of employment through its student loan forgiveness program titled the “Educator of Color Loan Forgiveness Program,” that was limited to newly hired non-White employees.

Respondent denies engaging in any unlawful discrimination under Title VII. Respondent claims that Charging Party does not have standing to file a complaint because Charging Party is not an aggrieved individual or victim to any adverse employment action by Respondent. Respondent further denies that Respondent engaged in any discriminatory actions because the “Educator of Color Loan Forgiveness Program” is a grant program funded and administered solely by a third-party foundation and is not part of Respondent’s hiring and employment process to recruit qualified educators of all races and nationalities. Respondent maintains that the Educator of Color Loan Forgiveness Program serves as an incentive to encourage additional applicants to
apply for vacant teaching positions.

The evidence obtained by the Commission shows that in April 2021, Respondent entered into an agreement with the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and a third-party foundation for Respondent’s recruitment and retention of new teachers of color. The evidence obtained during the investigation establishes that Respondent entered into a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the implementation of the Educator of Color Loan Forgiveness Program with the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and a third-party foundation on May 4, 2021. The evidence shows that Respondent advertised the Educator of Color Loan Forgiveness Program on job postings and on its website to recruit and hire non-White teachers. The evidence reveals that Respondent’s Educator of Color Loan Forgiveness Program pays for student loans up to $25,000 for a period of three years solely for “new teachers of color.”

The evidence obtained during the investigation establishes reasonable cause to believe that Respondent engaged in unlawful discrimination against a class of White applicants and employees who applied and were hired by Respondent in a teaching position for five academic years starting with the 2021-2022 school year based on their race, color and national origin, in violation of Title VII, as amended.

This determination is final. Title VII requires that, if the Commission determines that there is reasonable cause to believe that violations have occurred, it shall endeavor to eliminate the alleged unlawful employment practices by informal methods of conference, conciliation, and persuasion. Having determined that there is reason to believe that violations have occurred, the Commission now invites Respondent to join with it in an effort toward a just resolution of this matter.

Fox News covered the story in an article getting a lot of attention, high up on the home page with over 1800 comments as of this writing:

In 2022, the Legal Insurrection Foundation, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit investigative and research group, filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against the Providence Public School District.

The group alleged that the Providence Public School District offered a program giving student loan forgiveness to new teachers available only to non-White educators.

The complaint maintained that the Providence Public School District “engaged in a continuing violation and an ongoing pattern or practice of discrimination” with a student loan forgiveness program for newly and recently hired educators that is only accessible to non-White applicants, which was called the “Educator of Color Loan Forgiveness Program.”

The Providence Public School District reportedly said that recipients can have up to $25,000 of college loans forgiven once the teacher completes three consecutive years of teaching in the district. Eligibility requirements indicate recipients must “identify as Asian, Black, Indigenous, Latino, biracial, or multi-racial.” ….

In a statement to Fox News Digital, William Jacobson, Cornell law professor and founder of the Equal Protection Project, said, “After almost three years of effort, EPP is seeing the legal pieces fall into place to stop this racist program and to hold those responsible accountable.”

“The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a formal investigation and now the EEOC has issued a finding of ‘reasonable cause’ to believe the civil rights laws were violated,” Jacobson said. “We are gratified by the findings of the EEOC, and look forward to the EEOC taking further legal action to vindicate the rights of hundreds, if not thousands, of White teachers who were subject to unlawful discriminatory treatment.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Providence Public School District for comment.

“We can confirm that the Providence Public School District (PPSD) is in receipt of communication from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner regarding the District’s Educator of Color Loan Forgiveness program,” Providence Public School District said. “At this time, District leadership is working closely with legal counsel to review the communication and will respond accordingly.”

I had a chance to discuss the case with Lars Larson on his nationally syndicated show:

[if player doesn’t load, click here]

We expect more media to follow, as well as more legal action.

The PPSD Educator of Color Loan Forgiveness Program is one of the greatest race-discrimination scandals in modern Rhode Island history. The largest RI school district operated by the RI State Department of Education joined with the Rhode Island Foundation, the largest charity in the state, to create, finance, and operate an openly racist program that discriminated against White teachers. If not for the efforts of EPP, they might have gotten away with it.”

This unabashedly racist program operated for years even after EPP publicly objected and filed a legal claim in November 2022. The most powerful entities in the state and city just didn’t care, their sense of impunity was staggering. PPSD, the State of RI, and the RI Foundation obviously considered themselves above the law by embracing racial discrimination in its most crude form, treating discrimination against White teachers as acceptable.

PPSD’s aggressive Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) agenda created the conditions that allowed racism against White teachers to flourish. PPSD is a failing district that was taken over by the state and continues to show abysmal student educational performance. Yet the district is obsessed with DEI. The students may not be able to read, write, and do math at grade level, but PPSD seems more concerned with advancing the DEI racial agenda.

Shame on the politicians in Rhode Island and the City of Providence who stayed silent while their constituents faced open racial discrimination. They had to know about this problem – they could read the headlines EPP’s efforts have generated. The political structure in Rhode Island and Providence failed the people. Now it’s up to the federal authorities to fix this mess by commencing further legal actions.

EPP repeats our call for the U.S. Department of Justice to open a formal investigation of the Rhode Island Foundation, one of the key culprits here. The largest charity in the state should not be permitted to escape the consequences of formulating, creating, and funding a racist program in a public school district. There’s nothing charitable about what the Rhode Island Foundation did here. We call for a thorough examination of the Rhode Island Foundation’s practices and the commencement of appropriate legal action by the federal government.

Reminder: we are a small organization going up against powerful and wealthy government and private institutions devoted to DEI discrimination. Donations are greatly needed and appreciated.

=============================

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.