The U.S. Department of Justice has taken legal action against Minneapolis Public Schools, accusing the district of violating federal civil rights law by incorporating race-based employment preferences into its collective bargaining agreement with the teachers' union.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, takes issue with contract provisions that favor teachers from "underrepresented populations" during layoffs, reassignments, and recalls, and that offer exclusive employment benefits to members of a third-party program known as "Black Men Teach Fellows."
According to Gateway Pundit, the federal authorities argue that these policies infringe upon Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which outlaws discrimination based on race or sex in employment. Attorney General Pamela Bondi has framed the case as a necessary intervention to restore basic fairness, asserting that public education should remain "a bastion of merit and equal opportunitynot DEI."
Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, reinforced that employers may not lawfully offer different terms and conditions of employment based on protected characteristics.
The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction to prevent Minneapolis Public Schools from enforcing the disputed provisions or adopting similar policies in future contracts. The district has publicly adopted racial staffing targets, including a goal for BIPOC employees to constitute at least 40% of staff by 2026 and for 54.3% of new hires to identify as BIPOC by the 202627 school year. The Justice Department argues that such quotas directly conflict with federal law and undermine equal-opportunity principles.
The lawsuit also highlights a broader pattern visible across major public-school systems: administrators operate with minimal oversight, prioritize political initiatives, and face few consequences for decisions that do not improve academic outcomes. A striking example of this lack of accountability is seen in the Chicago Public Schools system.
As previously reported by Gateway Pundit, a review by the Chicago Public Schools Office of Inspector General found that district employees misused $23.6 million in travel spending, with funds being spent on luxury hotel stays, airport limousine services, and extended leisure travel under the guise of "professional development."
The misuse of funds is not limited to Chicago. New York's public-school system also demonstrates a disconnect between spending and results. Despite spending more than $39,000 per student annually, the highest per-pupil figure in the United States, nearly half of students statewide fail to meet basic reading benchmarks. Lawmakers continue to allocate funding toward politically driven initiatives, while the city's public schools serve approximately 154,000 homeless studentschildren who require extended instructional time, tutoring, and stability to succeed academically.
The cases of Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York reveal a systemic problem. Public-school systems are not failing because they lack money. They are failing because accountability has eroded. Bureaucracies face little pressure to comply with civil-rights law, manage taxpayer funds responsibly, or deliver measurable academic improvement. Families are expected to remain in these systems regardless of outcomes.
School choice directly addresses this imbalance. Charter schools and scholarship programs introduce accountability by allowing families to exit failing institutions. Charter schools typically provide 30-50% more instructional time than traditional district schools, a factor strongly linked to higher academic achievement. A study from North Carolina found that students who entered charter schools in ninth grade were roughly 30% less likely to commit crimes than peers who remained in traditional public schools.
The Minneapolis lawsuit underscores a fundamental truth. When school districts adopt discriminatory employment practices, misuse public funds, and tolerate academic collapse, families deserve alternatives. School choice does not weaken public education. It exposes failure, rewards performance, and forces improvement. Systems that deliver strong outcomes retain students. Systems that prioritize politics over learning lose them.
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