Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), chair of the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee, is requesting information amid reports of discrimination against a private Christian college by the public school district of Chicago.
In a Dec. 19 letter sent to Macquline King, interim superintendent of Chicago Public Schools, Walberg addressed claims that the Chicago Board of Education, the governing body of CPS, is excluding Moody Bible Institute from the district’s student teaching program unless the school agrees to change its faith-based hiring policies.
“If true, this is unlawful,” Walberg wrote.
According to the letter, after Moody’s elementary education bachelor’s degree program was approved by the Illinois State Board of Education, the board emphasized the importance of the college’s participation in CPS’s Pre-Service Teaching Program.
When the college applied, the district required Moody to sign agreements that would prohibit it from refusing to hire or discharging employees based on “gender identity/expression” or “sexual orientation”—language Walberg said conflicts with the institute’s religious doctrine.
“Stated differently, Moody must conform to CPS’s views on ‘gender identity/expression’ and ‘sexual orientation,’ or its students cannot student teach in CPS,” the congressman wrote.
The letter notes that the college sought modifications to preserve what it described as its “legally protected right to hire coreligionists.”
The district, however, allegedly declined to revise the agreements, which “would force Moody to abandon its Constitutionally protected, faith-based employment policies and practices in order to participate in CPS’s student teaching program,” Walberg wrote.
The committee requested that CPS produce documents and records associated with the Pre-Service Teaching Program by Jan. 5, 2026, to determine whether legislative action is needed, including potential changes to federal education law.
