Education
Feds Threaten to Withhold CPS Grant Funds Due to Black Student Success Plan, Transgender Student Guidelines
(WTTW / Michael Izquierdo)
Federal education authorities have threatened to withhold grant money from Chicago Public Schools unless the district agrees to do away with its Black Student Success Plan and revises policies regarding transgender students.
Months after launching an investigation into that CPS plan, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on Tuesday sent a letter to Chicago Board of Education President Sean Harden informing him they will not certify the district’s Magnet Schools Assistance Program grant or other federal funding unless those changes are made.
“The Black Students Success Plan, however, is designed for and exclusive to black students and black educators,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for Civil Rights, wrote in the letter. “It is not, for instance, available to white or Asian American students and educators. This is textbook racial discrimination, and no justification proffered by CPS can overcome the patent illegality of its racially exclusionary plan.”
The Education Department similarly notified Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia as well as the New York City Department of Education and New York City Public Schools that it will not certify their Magnet School grant applications, arguing those districts are in violation of federal civil rights laws.
According to CPS, the Magnet Schools Assistance Program grant provides the district with supports for schools to curate their own learning opportunities based on individual student needs.
A CPS spokesperson said Wednesday the district would not comment on “ongoing investigations.”
The district’s Black Student Success Plan aims to bring in more Black teachers, reduce suspensions against Black students, promote teaching on Black culture, increase belonging and close opportunity gaps. It provides a five-year roadmap to improve the outcomes of Black students, who make up a third of the district’s population.
In April, Trainor’s office announced it was investigating CPS over allegations that the district has violated Title VI, which prohibits discrimination based on race, months after the school district unveiled its new plan that seeks to address “long-standing racial inequities in education.”
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said her union would “not be intimidated or bullied into abandoning our responsibility to the students we serve.” She called the federal threat “not only a shameful waste of time and energy, but also a direct attack on equity, justice, and public education.”
“Let’s be very clear: Black students in Chicago and around this country have been denied equitable treatment and opportunities for generations,” she said in a statement. “They have disproportionately attended racially segregated schools, been forced into buildings starved of resources, and endured more school closures than any other group. That is not by accident — it is by design. And only through design can we change that reality.”
According to the 2024 Illinois Report Card, almost 60% of White students in CPS are proficient in English and Language Arts. That’s compared to 21% of Black students. That number is up from 11% in 2022, but Davis says much more work needs to be done to address the disparity. He pointed out how college access among Black students continues to lag behind other demographics.
Additionally, Trainor’s letter claims CPS guidelines regarding the “Support of Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students,” are “facially discriminatory.” He demanded CPS reverse course and only allow students to participate in sports or access “intimate facilities” like locker rooms based on their biological sex at birth, rather than their gender identity.
In the letter, Trainor said CPS must enact these policies by Friday in order for his office to reconsider the grant funding.
Bridgette Adu-Wadier contributed to this report.
