The Education Department is investigating Chicago Public Schools for creating an academic success plan exclusively for black students, despite other racial groups struggling in school as well.

CPS created the Black Students Success Plan for the 2023-24 school year, which only focused on remedial efforts for black students. This prompted a complaint under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Defending Education, an education watchdog, in February. Trump administration officials said Tuesday that DE’s complaint is what led to the investigation.

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Defending Education has filed a slew of complaints against K-12 school districts and universities for providing special treatment based on race, in addition to other left-wing bias and discrimination in education.

“The evidence clearly shows that CPS is failing at its basic task of educating all students – yet rather than addressing this problem, district leaders chose to create a racial spoils system, doling out programming to some at the expense of the many,” Defending Education president and founder Nicki Neily said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Discrimination of any kind is wrong, and for Chicago Public Schools to provide resources to some students and not others on the basis of skin color is both immoral and unconstitutional.”

Defending Education alleges in its complaint that senior district leaders developed this plan after conducting over a dozen meetings, including one where it was acknowledged that other student demographics were performing poorly as well.

In a Tuesday press release from the Education Department, Neily cited the district’s data demonstrating “that students of all races are struggling academically” and slammed CPS for allegedly denying students educational opportunities “because of the color of their skin.”

“We are grateful that the Department of Education has opened an investigation into this injustice,” Neily added.

In the same press release, Craig Trainor, the acting secretary for civil rights, slammed Chicago Public Schools for allegedly seeking to “allocate additional resources to favored students on the basis of race.”

“The Trump-McMahon Department of Education will not allow federal funds, provided for the benefit of all students, to be used in this pernicious and unlawful manner,” Trainor said. “To CPS, I say this: Every American student deserves access to a quality education, and the Trump Administration will fight tirelessly to uphold that ideal and ensure all students are treated equally under law.”

After expanding its operations to include higher education earlier this month after focusing on K-12 for years, Defending Education filed a civil rights complaint against Indiana University for racial discrimination over scholarships handed out on the basis of race. The complaint was first reported on exclusively by the Washington Examiner.

Tuesday’s investigation is the second in roughly a month launched by the Education Department based upon Defending Education’s findings. In late March, the ED announced it was investigating the Maine Department of Education over alleged parental rights violations related to schools socially transitioning transgender-identifying children without parental consent or knowledge.

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO KEY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT PROGRAMS IF TRUMP SHUTS IT DOWN

President Donald Trump has cracked down on schools engaging in race-based treatment of students during his second term in office. He signed an executive order prohibiting schools receiving federal funding from having active diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and directives.

A recent Defending Education report showed, however, that there are still 243 universities, colleges, and schools with active DEI offices running a total of 383 DEI-related programs. Twenty-six of these institutions have reportedly rebranded or renamed their offices or programs to evade the consequences of defying the Trump administration.