The Trump administration’s war on racially discriminatory DEI programs has reached the Chicago Public Schools, where a “success plan” designed specifically for Black students is under investigation.
The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights opened a probe Tuesday into a complaint about the district’s “Black Students Success Plan,” an initiative that seeks to “close opportunity gaps for Black students and advance Black student success in CPS.”
The complaint filed by Defending Education, formerly Parents Defending Education, said that program violated Title VI by “focusing on remedial measures only for black students, despite acknowledging that Chicago students of all races struggle academically.”
Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said that “Chicago Public Schools have a record of academic failure, leaving students from all backgrounds and races struggling and ill-prepared.”
“Rather than address its record honestly, CPS seeks to allocate additional resources to favored students on the basis of race,” he said in a statement.
Under President Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon, the “Department of Education will not allow federal funds, provided for the benefit of all students, to be used in this pernicious and unlawful manner,” Mr. Trainor said.
The Black Student Success Plan Working Group’s 2025-29 plan released in February includes doubling the number of Black male teachers; improving Black educator retention; increasing Black student achievement, and reducing disciplinary measures against Black students.
A CPS spokesperson said the district “does not comment on pending or ongoing investigations.”
The working group’s report cited a state law establishing a “Chicago Board of Education Black Students Achievement Committee.”
The investigation comes with the diversity, equity and inclusion movement facing a reckoning under the Trump administration as it moves to enforce Title VI of the Educational Amendments of 1972, which bans discrimination based on race, color and national origin in federally funded education entities.
Remember @DefendingEd’s complaint on Chicago Public Schools’ race-based programming? Now the Dept. of Ed is investigating.
CPS is failing all students, yet still chooses to divide resources by skin color. That’s not justice, it’s unconstitutional.
Thank you, @EDSecMcMahon! pic.twitter.com/zFhN5RBBOT
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) April 29, 2025
Nicki Neily, founder and president of Defending Education, said that the “evidence clearly shows that CPS is failing at its basic task of educating all students.”
“Yet rather than addressing this problem, district leaders chose to create a racial spoils system, doling out programming to some at the expense of the many,” said Ms. Neily in a statement.
“Discrimination of any kind is wrong, and for Chicago Public Schools to provide resources to some students and not others on the basis of skin color is both immoral and unconstitutional,” she added.
The Chicago Public Schools, one of the nation’s largest school districts, saw math and reading scores in grades 3-8 rise last year, finally exceeding pre-pandemic levels, while 11th-grade proficiency remained behind 2019 levels, according to an analysis by Illinois Policy.
The DOE under Ms. McMahon has opened Title VI investigations into the Harvard Law Review, the New York Department of Education, and more than 50 universities over allegations of racial bias and preferences, including race-based scholarships and career opportunities.
