An agreement between the district and teachers’ union explicitly states that schools should hire minorities over more senior white applicants.
A Michigan school district is allegedly violating federal civil rights law due to racial hiring quotas spelled out in its collective bargaining agreement with the local teachers’ union, according to a civil rights complaint filed against the school.
Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) — a district in southwest Michigan — established rules and mechanisms to implement racial quotas under its “Staffing for Racial Balance” agreement with a local teachers’ union, the Kalamazoo Education Association, the complaint, filed by education watchdog group Defending Education, alleges.
“The parties 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,” reads the “Minority Recruitment and Hiring” section of the agreement.
Further, under the agreement, “the District agrees to provide the funding and other resources necessary to fully develop and implement the plan” created by KPS and the teachers’ union.
The letter lays out a plan to recruit and maintain relationships with teachers of color, determine where in the district to place them, and ensure the schools remain compliant with the racial staffing quotas.
One aspect of the program includes “Support Services and Incentives,” and according to the letter, these targeted candidates may be eligible for “financial assistance prior to going on payroll or other help in obtaining loans.”
“The Supreme Court could not have been clearer in Students for Fair Admissions: public institutions that take federal money must treat people as individuals, not as representatives of a racial group,” Sarah Parshall Perry, vice president and legal fellow at Defending Education, told National Review in a statement.
The letter details “tests,” essentially mathematical equations, that determine whether a school employs a sufficient number of teachers of each racial group. If a school is found to not be compliant with the racial quota tests, the letter includes a list of potential hiring practices or transfers a school can pursue to gain compliance.
These remedies include voluntary transfers, hiring new teachers, assigning teachers to “special area” roles like art, music, or physical education as a “temporary adjustment,” and notably, if multiple teachers apply for a vacancy, awarding the position to a “teacher of color even if they are less senior.”
Further, “if the district is successful in hiring, recruiting, and retaining persons of color, the minimum standard will increase.”
“[Kalamazoo’s ‘Staffing for Racial Balance’ agreement] sets a mathematical range of teachers of color each building must hit, plans teacher assignments around that range, and overrides seniority to get there,” Perry said. “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.”
The racial balance of the school and the hiring process must be routinely monitored, according to the letter.
A KPS spokesperson said the district does not comment on pending litigation. The Department of Education did not respond to National Review‘s request for comment.