{"id":5061965,"date":"2025-11-14T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rilatinonews.com\/?p=5061965"},"modified":"2025-11-14T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T12:00:00","slug":"doj-sues-providence-public-schools-over-loan-forgiveness-for-educators-of-color","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/riln\/2025\/11\/14\/doj-sues-providence-public-schools-over-loan-forgiveness-for-educators-of-color\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ sues Providence public schools over loan forgiveness for \u2018educators of color\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The U.S. Department of Justice accused Providence public schools and the Rhode Island Department of Education of \u201cblatant race discrimination\u201d in a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday over a loan forgiveness program for teachers of color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Providence Public School District\u2019s \u201cEducators of Color Loan Forgiveness Program\u201d offered \u201cteachers of color\u201d up to $25,000 in student-loan forgiveness. RIDE, which manages the city\u2019s schools under a state takeover, launched the program with PPSD in 2021 using funding from the Rhode Island Foundation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The federal government\u2019s lawsuit, filed in federal court in Providence, claims the program violated the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 by excluding white teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spokespeople for the state Department of Education and Providence Public School District declined to answer questions about the lawsuit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver the last few months, PPSD and RIDE worked in good faith with the U.S. Department of Justice to reach a resolution on this matter,\u201d the organizations wrote in a joint statement. \u201cPPSD and RIDE officials have not been served, and we were not informed by federal representatives that they would proceed with a lawsuit. Since there is active litigation, PPSD and RIDE will not be commenting further.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit is the latest effort by the Trump Administration to curtail diversity programs. In June, the DOJ notified Rhode Island\u2019s attorney general<\/a> that it had opened an investigation into whether the state engaged in a pattern of discrimination more generally. In August, a coalition of states including Rhode Island announced it had successfully sued to unlock federal education funding<\/a> the Trump Administration had apparently frozen in an effort to root out \u201cwoke ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

DOJ sues Providence public schools over loan forgiveness for \u2018educators of color\u2019<\/a> was originally published by the The Public\u2019s Radio. RI Latino News is dedicated to amplifying stories about our local Hispanic and Latino communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured Photo: A Providence Public School District building\u00a0Credit:\u00a0File: Elisabeth Harrison \/ The Public’s Radio
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Department of Justice accused Providence public schools and the Rhode Island Department of Education of \u201cblatant race discrimination\u201d in a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday over a loan forgiveness program for teachers of color.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":5061966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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