On February 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into this complaint. See the letter here.
On December 17, 2025, Defending Education (DE) filed a complaint against Portland Public Schools (PPS) with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. DE claims PPS is breaking Title VI, a law that bans race discrimination in programs that receive federal funds. DE also claims PPS is violating the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, which bars government bodies, including public schools, from race-based discrimination. PPS receives federal money, so it must obey these laws.
In 2020, Portland voters approved Measure 26-215, a $1.2 billion school construction bond that also created the district’s Center for Black Student Excellence (CBSE). The center’s guiding principles promise to “center Blackness unapologetically” and to “ensure that Black students and Black Educators in PPS access empowering activities, services, and relationships.” Its programs include academic support, mentoring, and parent groups only for Black students and families. Yet PPS’s own reports admit that Portland students of all races struggle in school.
On December 2, 2025, the PPS board voted to buy a $16 million building to house the center. The building needs another $20 to $25 million in renovations and 24 to 30 months of construction. Until then, PPS will own an empty building set aside for segregated education that will not teach a single child. All this comes as the district faces a $50 million budget shortfall next year.
Defending Education urges the Department to investigate every claim in its complaint, fix PPS’s illegal policies and practices, and order the right remedies.
DE’s Vice President, Sarah Parshall Perry, said:
Portland Public Schools (PPS) is pouring millions of taxpayer dollars into its Center for Black Student Excellence (CBSE), whose guiding principles promise to “ensure that Black students and Black Educators in PPS access empowering activities, services, and relationships,” and “emulate intentionality around bringing out the excellence in Black students.” But PPS reporting recognizes that Portland students of all races struggle academically.
Now, PPS has purchased a $16 million commercial building for the CBSE that needs millions in renovations and will sit vacant for more than two years. That kind of flagrant racial preferencing isn’t just fiscally irresponsible, it’s illegal, and we’ve asked the Department of Education to investigate.
Read the full complaint below:
