An agreement between the Minneapolis teachers union and the Minneapolis Public Schools which stipulates that White teachers will be laid off before teachers of color, regardless of their seniority, violates the Civil Rights Act, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, several critics warned.

In an effort to revise how the district hires and retains teachers of color, the new contract states that teachers will be subject to layoffs or job changes in “order of seniority,” unless the teacher is part of an “underrepresented group.” The Minnesota Reformer reported that MPS teachers of colors face job changes and budget cuts at a higher rate than their white counterparts. On top of that, 23 percent of teachers laid off in the 2020-21 school year were Black and brown while only making up 18 percent of the workforce.

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