The Department of Justice under President Trump has filed a federal lawsuit against the Providence Public School District and the Rhode Island Department of Education for operating a racially discriminatory loan forgiveness program. The program, which offered up to $25,000 in student loan relief, explicitly excluded white teachers based on race.
Launched in 2021, the “Educators of Color Loan Forgiveness Program” was a joint effort by the school district, the state education department, and the Rhode Island Foundation. It targeted new hires who identified as Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Indigenous, providing financial incentives unavailable to their white colleagues. Over five years, the program was set to fund over $3 million in loan forgiveness for at least 127 non-white educators.
According to the DOJ’s lawsuit, the program violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars employment discrimination based on race. The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction to stop the program, a judicial declaration of its unconstitutionality, and financial compensation for teachers excluded because of their race.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a “reasonable cause” finding in 2024, concluding that white teachers were unlawfully denied benefits. The case originated from a complaint filed by the Equal Protection Project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation in 2023, which argued that the program imposed a race-based barrier to public employment benefits.
This lawsuit marks a sharp response to race-based policies in public institutions. The Trump administration’s DOJ is reaffirming that race cannot be used as a basis to deny access to government programs.
