(The National Review)—The Department of Education launched an investigation into Chicago Public Schools on Tuesday after a watchdog organization accused the district of discriminating against students on the basis of race.
Defending Education filed a civil rights complaint with the department in February over CPS’s “Black Students Success Plan,” an initiative described by the district as a “deep equity-focused planning process that will result in…support[ing] closing outcome gaps for Black students in the district.” The working group was convened to “improve outcomes for Black students in the district,” according to a slideshow presentation obtained by Defending Ed.
The slideshow focuses heavily on improving outcomes for black students but also “acknowledges that Chicago students of all races struggle academically,” Defending Ed said in its complaint.
Although 16 percent of black non-Hispanic students are at or above grade level proficiency in reading, for example, only 14 percent of Hispanic students are at or above grade level proficiency in reading, according to the slideshow.
“In other words, CPS is failing students of all races and ethnicities, which makes this racially segregated program all the more egregious,” Defending Ed added.
DOE’s Office for Civil Rights will now investigate the claim. When reached for comment, CPS told National Review that “Chicago Public Schools does not comment on pending or ongoing investigations,” but added that “the CPS Black Student Success Plan is codified in and mandated by state law.”
CPS allocated two staff members to the program and hosted at least 16 meetings with community stakeholders and professionals. Defending Ed said the district chose to “devote a non-trivial amount of CPS resources to this endeavor at a time when the district faces a $9.9 billion deficit.”
“The evidence clearly shows that CPS is failing at its basic task of educating all students – yet rather than addressing this problem, district leaders chose to create a racial spoils system, doling out programming to some at the expense of the many,” Defending Ed President Nicki Neily said. “Discrimination of any kind is wrong, and for Chicago Public Schools to provide resources to some students and not others on the basis of skin color is both immoral and unconstitutional.”
The program ran from 2023-24. In a working group session in February 2024, equity officers said in a presentation that “CPS educators are not equipped to support the socio-emotional, cultural, and academic needs of Black students.” Staff recommended that CPS “partner with state universities to increase pipeline and recruit more Black teachers” and “establish mentorship programs and coaching networks for Black educators to provide support, professional development opportunities, and leadership pathways within the school district.”
CPS is also under federal investigation over Title IX violations. Filed in March by the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies and the Liberty Justice Center, an OCR complaint against CPS claimed that “by forcing students to share intimate facilities with members of the opposite sex as a condition of participation in their education programs and activities, prioritize ‘gender identity’ over sex. Simply put, the ‘gender identity’ policies of [CPS] effectively erase ‘sex’ from Title IX.”
The complaint was brought after an Illinois mom exposed the “inclusive bathroom” policies that allowed a male in her 13-year-old daughter’s middle-school locker room.