State program that bases benefits on race under new challenge

A special program set up in the state of Illinois to provide scholarships to aspiring teachers, to use for tuition, fees, commuter allowances, room and board, is under a new court challenge because of its racist foundation.

It excludes students if they are white.

It is the Pacific Legal Foundation that is pursuing a civil rights complaint on behalf of the American Alliance for Equal Rights, which is fighting the precedent of the Illinois Student Assistance Corporation.

“The Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program awards scholarships of up to $7,500 per year for tuition, fees, commuter allowances, and room and board for up to four academic years of full-time college enrollment. With Illinois facing a severe teacher shortage, the MTI Scholarship Program is designed to encourage qualified Illinoisans to join the teacher ranks,” Pacific Legal Foundation’s report explained.

“Students must meet residency, academic, and financial standards,” the legal team explained. But, it noted, the recipients are decided based on race.

“Illinois can offer assistance to young, aspiring teachers, but not when they exclude a significant number of applicants based on their skin color,” said PLF attorney Erin Wilcox. “The exclusion of non-minority applicants not only misses the mark on providing an equal opportunity for all future teachers, it violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.”

The racism actually dates back to 1992 when state lawmakers created the program.

“It’s purported aim was to alleviate a teacher shortage by recruiting minority students to pursue teaching careers at Pre-K through high school levels,” the report said.

But recipients are limited to students who are “African American/Black, Hispanic American, Asian American or Native American origin, or a qualified bilingual minority.”

The report said, “It’s wrong for the government to deny individuals access to government 0benefits on the basis of race. Moreover, it’s unconstitutional. The equal protection guarantee of the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment protects individuals from government discrimination due to arbitrary classifications like race. Excluding students from a state-funded scholarship program because of their race blatantly violates the Equal Protection Clause.”

The complaint in court explains, “The Scholarship Program’s statutory racial exclusion is embedded both in the application process and the qualification considerations for award. First, only minority students who have graduated from high school or have received a State of Illinois High School Diploma, maintained a cumulative grade point average of no less than 2.5 on a 4.0 scale, and are enrolled or accepted on at least a half-time basis as an undergraduate or graduate student at an Illinois institution of higher education are eligible to apply for the Scholarship Program.”

And, it contends, “Eligible applicants must then satisfy the following requirements to receive a scholarship: (i) be a resident of the State and a citizen or permanent resident of the United States; (ii) be a minority student; (iii) as an eligible applicant, have made a timely application; (iv) be enrolled on at least a half-time basis at a qualified Illinois institution of higher learning to become a licensed teacher; (v) maintain a grade point average of no less than 2.5 on a 4.0 scale; and (vi) have continued to advance satisfactorily toward the attainment of a degree.”

The filing in court explains, “Under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ‘[n]o State shall … deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.’ [E]very person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State …, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured ….”