The News: The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) is demanding Governor Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB) immediately suspend Wisconsin’s Minority Teacher Loan (MTL) Program. The taxpayer-funded program gives loans to certain prospective teachers, but eligibility for the loans is limited based on race, ethnicity, and ancestry.

The program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and closely mirrors a race-based state scholarship program unanimously struck down by the Wisconsin Supreme Court earlier this year.

The Quote: WILL Deputy Counsel Rebecca Furdek stated, “Wisconsin cannot decide who receives taxpayer-funded educational opportunities based upon the color of their skin. The Wisconsin Supreme Court just unanimously struck down a nearly identical race-based program. Governor Evers and HEAB should follow the Constitution, end this discrimination, and ensure these opportunities are available to all Wisconsin students, regardless of race.”

Background: The MTL Program provides loans of up to $10,000 each year for three years to students pursuing teaching licenses in designated teacher-shortage areas. Portions of the loans can be forgiven for graduates who teach in qualifying Wisconsin schools.

But even students who meet the program’s academic, licensing, and teaching requirements are ineligible unless they belong to racial or ethnic groups specified by state law. A student who would otherwise qualify is prevented from receiving up to $30,000 in taxpayer-funded assistance solely because of his or her race.

Legal Argument: Earlier this year, the Wisconsin Supreme Court unanimously struck down Wisconsin’s Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant Program in Rabiebna v. Higher Educational Aids Board, reaffirming that the Equal Protection Clause requires equal treatment without regard to race, ancestry, origin, or ethnicity.

The MTL Program violates these same constitutional protections. Neither state law nor HEAB guidance allows for a governmental program that justifies excluding future teachers based on race. The illegal racial restriction also undermines the program’s goal of addressing Wisconsin’s teacher shortages by shutting out qualified future educators due to the color of their skin.

What Next: WILL is demanding that Governor Evers and HEAB immediately suspend the Minority Teacher Loan Program and begin terminating its unconstitutional racial restrictions. If the State fails to act by August 21, 2026, Wisconsin taxpayers will be forced to pursue legal action to end the unconstitutional program.