President Donald Trump’s Department of Education has launched an investigation into Chicago Public Schools, alleging that a plan meant to improve educational outcomes for Black children discriminates against other races.
The federal inquiry follows a complaint lodged against CPS in February by Parents Defending Education, a right-wing Virginia-based group that has become a key national player in attempts to reshape American education. The group has fought the teaching of Black history, inclusion of queer identities and so-called anti-white discrimination.
The investigation and challenge target Chicago’s newly launched “Black Student Success Plan,” which they claim violates federal anti-discrimination laws by focusing on only one group of students.
“Chicago Public Schools have a record of academic failure, leaving students from all backgrounds and races struggling and ill-prepared to meet the challenges and enjoy the rewards of contemporary American life,” said Craig Trainor, the Education Department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights. “Rather than address its record honestly, CPS seeks to allocate additional resources to favored students on the basis of race.
“The Trump-McMahon Department of Education will not allow federal funds, provided for the benefit of all students, to be used in this pernicious and unlawful manner.”
A CPS spokeswoman declined to comment, citing “pending or ongoing investigations.”
It’s unlikely Mayor Brandon Johnson or CPS leaders or board members will bow to the Trump administration’s demands. But fighting back does risk CPS funding. About $1.3 billion of CPS’ revenue, or 16%, comes from the federal government.
Despite the investigation, an Illinois law — the one that created an elected Chicago school board — mandates CPS have a Black Student Success Committee to improve opportunities and outcomes for Black students.
CPS and the Board of Education created the Black Student Success Plan because, historically, Black children have not been favored students in Chicago.
Data shows reading and math gaps have persisted for years between Black students and their peers in CPS — a troubling trend that experts and advocates have attributed to the underresourcing of predominantly Black schools.
Black community leaders have long pushed for a plan that would specifically address those disparities to give Black children the same opportunities for educational and post-schooling success as students of other races.
“Disparities between Black students and their counterparts in academic achievement, graduation rates and postsecondary opportunities are the result of historical and present-day discrimination in the United States applied uniquely to Black people: unfair housing practices, segregation, lack of access to resources and many other longstanding and federal policies, laws and practices,” reads the plan’s executive summary, published in February.
“Today, nationwide systemic educational issues, such as unequal funding, disproportionate disciplinary actions and biased educational policies, continue to contribute to the challenges faced by our Black students.”
CPS CEO Pedro Martinez wrote at the time the district’s “mission is, and has always been, to provide every student in every Chicago neighborhood with a high-quality education that prepares them for success in college, career and community. While we have made great strides in recent years, we know that opportunities remain more attainable for some students than they do for others, and that this reality must change. Data shows that our Black students are often the ones furthest from opportunity.”
CPS moved ahead with the initiative last week despite the federal complaint by the Virginia group. The school board launched the Black Student Success Committee to oversee the plan and tapped board member and longtime activist Jitu Brown as chair of the committee.
