Press Releases

Today, Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) sent a letter to Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Superintendent Macquline King following reports that CPS may be violating federal law by discriminating against students of at least one faith-based college and pressuring it to compromise its religious hiring practices so its students can teach in the district.
 
In the letter, Chairman Walberg writes: “Public reporting indicates that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) may be discriminating against students of Moody Bible Institute (Moody) in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution. Specifically, the governing board of CPS – the Board of Education of the City of Chicago – appears to be excluding Moody and its students from participating in CPS’s student teaching program unless Moody agrees to change its faith-based hiring policies and practices. If true, this is unlawful.”

The letter continues: “As an accredited postsecondary institution, Moody prepares students for the teaching profession through its elementary education bachelor’s degree program. The program received approval from the Illinois State Board of Education (State Board or Board)…At or about the time Moody received the State Board’s approval, the Board highlighted the importance of Moody participating in CPS’ student teaching program. Moody proceeded to apply to CPS’ Pre-Service Teaching Program. However, CPS required Moody to sign two agreements as a precondition for its students to student teach in the school district. The agreements…would force Moody to abandon its Constitutionally protected, faith-based employment policies and practices in order to participate in CPS’s student teaching program.”

Chairman Walberg concludes: “The effect of the two agreements, if left unchanged, is to compel Moody to abandon its Biblically-based doctrinal positions as a condition of participation in CPS’s Pre-Service Teaching Program. Stated differently, Moody must conform to CPS’s views on ‘gender identity/expression’ and ‘sexual orientation,’ or its students cannot student teach in CPS.”

To read the full letter, click here.

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