The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), accusing the district of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by granting preferential treatment to certain teachers based on race, national origin, and sex under its collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, challenges provisions in the district’s 2021–25 contracts that prioritize teachers from “underrepresented populations” in employment decisions—including layoffs, involuntary reassignments, and reinstatements—and grant additional benefits to “Black Men Teach Fellows,” a group limited to Black male educators.
“Discrimination is unacceptable in all forms, especially when it comes to hiring decisions,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in announcing the action. “Our public education system in Minnesota and across the country must be a bastion of merit and equal opportunity — not DEI.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the department “will vigorously pursue employers who deny their employees equal opportunities and benefits by classifying and limiting them based on their race, color, national origin, or sex.”
Claims of Systemic Preferences in Contract Language
According to the Justice Department’s complaint, MPS has since July 2021 maintained contract provisions requiring the district to treat teachers differently depending on whether they fall within “underrepresented populations”—a term the complaint says functions as a proxy for race, color, and national origin, specifically Black, Indigenous, and other teachers of color.
Under Article 15 of the CBA, the district is required to skip “underrepresented” teachers during layoffs or involuntary reassignments, instead removing the next least-senior “non-underrepresented” teacher. Likewise, the agreement directs the district to reinstate underrepresented teachers ahead of more senior colleagues.
Federal attorneys argue these provisions amount to explicit race-based classifications unsupported by evidence of past discrimination. The complaint states that district officials adopted these policies during negotiations without any analytical justification, despite framing them as remedies for historical inequities.
The district has also set numerical hiring goals intended to expand its BIPOC workforce, including targets to increase BIPOC staffing to at least 40% by 2026 and to ensure that more than half of new teachers hired by 2026–27 identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color.
Targeting of “Black Men Teach Fellows”
A separate memorandum of agreement between the district and Black Men Teach, incorporated into the CBA, is also a focal point of the Justice Department’s case. The district designates one school—Nellie Stone Johnson Community School—as a partnership site where Black Men Teach Fellows receive priority hiring opportunities, additional paid professional development days, and exemptions from standard layoff and reassignment procedures.
The Justice Department argues these benefits are categorically unavailable to women or non-Black teachers and therefore violate federal law.
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” the complaint states, quoting a 2007 Supreme Court decision.
Federal Government Seeks Injunction
The lawsuit asks the court to declare that MPS is engaging in a “pattern or practice” of unlawful employment discrimination and to issue a permanent injunction barring the district from continuing to implement the challenged provisions or adopting similar terms in future labor contracts. The Justice Department had previously notified the district of its findings before filing suit.
The case stems from an investigation by the Civil Rights Division’s Employment Litigation Section.
District Response Not Yet Filed
Minneapolis Public Schools has not yet publicly responded to the lawsuit, and the district’s current contract with the teachers’ union—extended from its 2023–25 term—remains in effect.
If successful, the Justice Department’s suit could force the district to overhaul its diversity-oriented staffing policies, which were designed to increase the presence and retention of teachers of color in a workforce long criticized as failing to reflect the demographics of Minneapolis students.
You can view the complaint here.
