EXCLUSIVE — Two education watchdogs, Defending Education and Do No Harm, filed a joint complaint with the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights on Thursday, alleging that Oregon has illegally considered race in its education funding policies.The Oregon Department of Education requires that 65% of a charter school’s student body be from a minority group or disabled to qualify for a Charter School Equity Grant. The state’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission also distributes funding to Oregon’s public universities according to the number of minority students who graduate.“Oregon’s use of student racial demographics to allocate public funding for K-12 schools and universities is immoral and violates the Constitution and federal antidiscrimination law,” Dr. Kurt Miceli, Chief Medical Officer of Do No Harm, told the Washington Examiner. “Political activists have long pushed institutions to support equity over equality, and Oregon’s system of race-based funding to remedy vague claims of ‘societal discrimination’ is a clear example.”
The charter school grant program was allocated over $4 million in Gov. Tina Kotek’s (D-OR) budget for the years 2025 to 2027 to support eight schools, while the public university fund is set to manage over $1 billion for the same period.
