The investigation started Tuesday, alleging Chicago Public Schools, or CPS, is engaging in race-based discrimination related to this plan.
Chalkbeat Chicago reports it's not just the Trump Admin. CPS revealed the plan back in February. The very next day after its release, the Virginia-based group Parents Defending Education challenged it.
Parents Defending Education alleges the CPS plan violates Title VI, which says there can be no discrimination based on race or shared ancestry.
The plan to support black students, which the district began working on in the fall of 2023, sets goals to increase the number of black teachers, reduce black student suspensions, provide more professional development for all educators, and ensure that black history is taught in more classrooms, among other steps, Chalkbeat Chicago reports.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (shown right) said earlier this month he would sue the federal government if it withheld funding from schools over diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
AFN talked with Carol Swain, a retired professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University.
"I believe that the administration is on solid ground when it challenges Chicago's Black Success Plan, and it's my understanding that the plan was something that came out of the Illinois legislature,” she said.
Parents and students have seen this before.
“When you look at the goals of the program, it's very clear that it follows the same model of failed DEI programs. Part of the emphasis is on hiring more black teachers, attacking the suspensions of black students. These are some things that have been tried in the past. They have not been successful."
Swain said she believes it is far more important for the Trump admin to focus on increasing the quality of education for all students in public schools.
"Public schools have been failing all of America's children, and so it makes no sense to continue pouring money down the drain for something that has proven not to work in the past."
