(The Center Square) – Defending Education filed a civil rights complaint against Michigan’s Kalamazoo Public Schools over hiring practices and staffing requirements that the conservative group allege are race-based.
Vice president and senior legal fellow of Defending Education Sarah Parshall Perry told The Center Square that Kalamazoo Public Schools “sets a mathematical range of teachers of color each building must hit, plans teacher assignments around that range, and overrides seniority to get there.
“Title VI and the Equal Protection Clause forbid exactly this kind of racial balancing, and we’re asking the Office for Civil Rights to investigate,” Parshall Perry said.
Defending Education cited the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, a 2023 case in which justices ruled that public institutions that take federal money cannot use race as a factor in hiring and admissions policies.
“Kalamazoo’s ‘Staffing for Racial Balance’ agreement does the opposite,” Parshall Perry said.
Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) has not yet responded to The Center Square's multiple requests for comment.
The U.S. Education Department told The Center Square it “does not confirm complaints.”
Defending Education stated in itscomplaintthat KPS commits racial discrimination in “programs or activities” receiving taxpayer-funded financial assistance, which it says violates both Title VI and the Civil Rights Act.
KPS’ “2025-2026 collective bargaining agreement with its local union sets minimum race-based staffing levels,” the complaint said.
The complaint points to a letter of agreement between KPS and Kalamazoo Education Association, a union representing more than 800 teachers and other district employees, called ”Staffing for Racial Balance.”
According to the complaint, the Letter of Agreement–Staffing for Racial Balance “prescribes mechanisms for achieving its racial targets, including recruitment and hiring practices, ‘support services and incentives’ that could include ‘financial assistance prior to going on payroll or other help in obtaining loans,’ and the use of voluntary transfers that may require awarding a vacancy to the ‘teacher of color even if they are less senior.’”
The letter of agreement further states that “both the district and teachers’ union ‘agree that the achievement and maintenance of a racially representative and balanced teaching staff depends upon an effective program to recruit, hire and retain persons of color,’” the complaint says.
The agreement said that the district “agrees to provide funding and other resources necessary to fully develop and implement the plan,” according to the complaint.
In its complaint, Defending Education called on the Department of Education to investigate.
Defending Education says it is an organization working to restore free speech in education and helping to keep“political ideology and activism” out of schools.
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