PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The Department of Justice has sued the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) and the Providence Public School District (PPSD) for what the DOJ is calling “racial discrimination against teachers.”

The claim stems from an investigation into the 2021 implementation of the joint RIDE/PPSD Educators of Color Loan Forgiveness Program.

DOJ is claiming that the program violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

A Tuesday statement from the DOJ reads in part:

The Program is described as an “incentive” to “encourage teachers of color” to teach at PPSD and obliges PPSD to “recruit and retain up to 127 teachers of color” during that period. Under the Program, “Teachers of color” includes teachers “who identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, an

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