Parents Group Alleges Racial Discrimination in Minnesota Teacher Hiring Program

The Minnesota school district stands by its person of color criteria for teacher recruitment programs, saying it benefits students’ learning and performance.

Students walk to their classrooms at a public middle school in Los Angeles, on Sept. 10, 2021. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

A Minnesota school district’s program for recruiting, mentoring, and retaining local teachers is race-based and therefore discriminatory, a parents group alleges in a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).

The complaint, filed in the DOE’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) by the Virginia-based Parents Defending Education (PDE) on Dec. 18, notes the criteria for the district’s “Grow Your Own” initiative, which totals $136,400 in grants, states that applicants must be “of color.”