Race-based funding for Minority-Serving Institutions unconstitutional: Linda McMahon supports official legal finding

US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has endorsed the Office of Legal Counsel’s (OLC) opinion ruling race-based criteria in Minority Serving Institution (MSI) programmes unconstitutional. The decision follows litigation challenging Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) and other MSI grants. McMahon said in a statement issued by the Department of Education that taxpayer funding must be merit-based. The Department plans to reprogramme discretionary funds while maintaining previously allocated mandatory funding, reviewing the full impact across affected MSI programmes.