One in every of California’s most underperforming college districts is spending practically $300,000 instructing children to rap, elevating the alarm amongst DEI watchdogs.
In January, the Merced Metropolis College District within the Central Valley — one of many state’s lower-performing college districts based mostly on check performances — signed a $270,000 settlement with Fresno-based College Yard Rap, which describes its method to studying as “edutainment.”
The contracts embrace a summer season “Rap Camp” and an “African American Affinity Group”, which is capped for 100 African American college students, elevating questions on whether or not the programming complies with federal regulation.
“Faculties can not embrace or exclude college students from applications and actions based mostly on race or ethnicity — it’s towards the regulation,” mentioned Erika Sanzi, senior director of communications at Defending Schooling, an advocacy group that tracks equity-focused programming in faculties.
In slightly over a yr, Merced has handed out three contracts price a complete of $610,000 to College Yard Rap, which operates throughout 28 states, together with New York, New Jersey and Texas.
Programming contains historical past classes, songwriting, DJing and performances. However the potential of race-based programming in Merced public faculties is now on the radar of federal officers.
“It’s unlawful for the federal government to supply advantages solely on the premise of race,” Harmeet Dhillon, assistant legal professional basic of the Justice Division’s Civil Rights Division instructed The Put up in assertion. “We’ve not had the chance to research these allegations, but when true, they’re troubling.”
District officers didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark by telephone and electronic mail, however Brandon Brown, a former college instructor and founding father of College Yard Rap, disputed that the programming is exclusionary.
“This camp particularly — the African American Affinity Camp — is open to each single scholar grades third to eighth, specializing in African American historical past and the diaspora,” Brown instructed The Put up.
“I believe that is politically pushed and the rationale that is being known as out.”
In certainly one of its signature applications titled “Moor than a Month,” tune lyrics mimicking the type of hip hop group Migos take direct goal at white patriarchy.
“I’mma be Black each day that I’m right here, no cap, for greater than a month, similar to each Black child in school,” the tune says.
“So this album for them, however this observe’s for you — each instructor and guardian, you want this reality.
“Historical past books have a white male skew, however consider me I ain’t blaming you. That’s who wrote it on paper — it’s a cycle by nature. We give what we bought, however I’m right here to interrupt it and convey schooling on what shouldn’t be taught, belief it’s quite a bit.”
Brown instructed The Put up that College Yard Rap’s view is that giving kids extra details about the tradition of others “helps eradicate lots of hate and ignorance within the nation.”
College students in Merced’s college district, which serves round 11,000 college students between kindergarten and eighth grade, have traditionally struggled with a student-teacher ratio of 25 to 1, in keeping with Area of interest, a web site that compiles knowledge to rank and evaluate faculties.
College Yard Rap additionally hosted a live performance wherein a performer championed the legacy of farmworker organizer César Chávez, who this week was outed as an alleged sexual predator who groomed and raped below age women.
Federal regulation prohibits public faculties that obtain federal funding from excluding college students or distributing advantages based mostly on race. Below Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, race-based applications can set off authorized scrutiny.
The U.S. Division of Justice below President Trump has opened investigations into college districts over race-based hiring and scholar programming, whereas the Division of Schooling has warned that applications separating or favoring college students based mostly on race might violate civil rights regulation and threat federal funding.
In April 2025, feds launched an investigation into Chicago Public Faculties’ Black Pupil Success Plan over alleged race-based advantages, and a September 2025 probe into Des Moines Public Faculties for race-based hiring practices.
“We wish to have lots of African American college students on this program to study their tradition and historical past and aspire to extra, nevertheless it’s not in any violation of federal funding, as a result of it’s not restricted to African American college students,” Brown mentioned.
Nonetheless, Defending Ed officers have taken problem not solely with the programming content material, but in addition the Merced college district’s priorities in a press release to The Put up.
“If fairness was my aim,” Sanzi mentioned, “I’d begin with studying and math scores and revenue stage to establish the scholars most in want of additional help.”
