Civil rights work is slowing as Trump dismantles the Education Department, agency data shows

By Collin Binkley | The Associated Press 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration insists it hasn’t wavered in its duty to protect the civil rights of America’s children even as it dismantles the Education Department. Yet its own data shows the agency has resolved far fewer civil rights cases than in past years despite families filing more complaints.

The Education Department’s civil rights branch lost nearly half its staff amid mass layoffs in March, raising questions about its ability to address a deep backlog of complaints from students alleging discrimination based on disability, sex or race. Pressed on the issue in June, Education Secretary Linda McMahon denied a slowdown.

“Not only are we reducing the backlog, but we are keeping up with the current amount with a reduced staff because we are doing it efficiently,” McMahon said at a Senate budget hearing.

By several measures, however, the output of the Office for Civil Rights appears to have fallen sharply in comparison with previous years. A public database of the office’s resolution agreements — cases in which schools or universities voluntarily agreed to address civil rights concerns — suggests the office’s work has slowed.

The database lists just 65 resolutions so far this year, on pace to fall far below previous years’ totals. Last year the office logged 380 resolutions in total, following 561 in 2023. During President Donald Trump’s first term, the office averaged more than 800 resolutions a year, including 1,300 during his first year in office.

Other internal data obtained by The Associated Press show a similar trend. Since Trump took office, the total number of resolved cases is down about 40% from the same time frame last year — including cases that were dismissed, mediated or reached a voluntary resolution. Compared with last year, there also has been a 70% decrease in the number of cases resolved through resolution agreements or action taken by a school to comply with federal law, the internal data shows.

Meanwhile, new complaints have increased 9%. The total number of cases has now climbed beyond 25,000.

An Education Department spokesperson said the Trump administration is fixing a broken system.

“When staff levels were at their peak, OCR’s processes still proved to be ineffective, as evidenced by the chronic backlog of tens of thousands of cases that left students’ discrimination claims languishing over many presidential administrations,” spokesperson Julie Hartman said.

Many families are waiting for US intervention to address complaints

Parents and advocates say they’ve noticed a difference.

Adrienne Hazel filed a complaint in April after her 20-year-old son Ricky, who has autism, was placed in a public school program without a certified teacher and was not given an individual learning plan. Hazel, of Southfield, Michigan, has not heard from the federal office after receiving an automatic reply when she filed the complaint.

Things moved faster last year when Hazel filed a separate complaint for her son. The office notified Ricky’s school, which Hazel says spurred the district to reach an agreement with her within about three months. This time, she said, it feels like she’s on her own.

“There has been zero response to this,” she said. “He’s basically going into a babysitting situation. He’s not getting the things that he needs to grow into independence. And he’ll just be aging without getting an education.”

Marcie Lipsitt, a special education advocate in Michigan who worked with Hazel, said such stories are common. She helps families file complaints but warns it could take at least a year before an investigation opens. Some schools have backtracked on previous agreements, she said, yet parents can’t get a response from the federal office.

“It’s horrible. I’m watching children suffer like they’ve never suffered,” she said. “There is no accountability.”

The fate of the Education Department itself is in question as the Trump administration moves ahead with a plan to wind down the agency. A Supreme Court decision Monday cleared the way for the agency to continue mass layoffs and outsource some functions to other agencies. McMahon previously suggested the civil rights work could be managed by the Justice Department.

Still, McMahon said in June that the office was making headway after inheriting a backlog of 20,000 cases from the Biden administration. She told senators the office was catching up on the backlog and keeping up with new complaints.

With half the staff, many question how that’s possible. In a June court order pausing the termination of Office for Civil Rights employees, a federal judge in Boston said the branch is “currently incapable of addressing the vast majority” of complaints. More than 200 of the office’s employees remain on leave while that case is decided.

Caseloads have grown for remaining Office for Civil Rights staffers

The Office for Civil Rights is responsible for enforcing civil rights laws across the nation’s schools and is often a last resort for parents and students facing discrimination from schools. The office reviews complaints and, for those that meet certain criteria, opens investigations. Others are dismissed or move to a mediation process.

Of the 65 resolution agreements reported this year, 57 were signed after Trump took office. Of those, the vast majority involve complaints of discrimination based on disability, with smaller numbers based on sex or race. Most of the sex discrimination findings deal with keeping transgender athletes out of women’s sports, one of Trump’s campaign promises.

“OCR will continue to meet its statutory responsibilities while driving to improve efficiency and resolve the longstanding backlog,“ Hartman said.

Multiple workers in the office who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation said caseloads have grown too big to manage. In last year’s budget request, the office said it was becoming difficult to keep up when investigative staff averaged 42 cases per person. Some estimates put the current caseload beyond 200.

The employees said it means more cases will languish.

Another parent in Michigan, Casie Clouse, hasn’t heard from the department since she filed a complaint in May. Her son, Brady, who is blind in one eye and has a learning disability, wasn’t getting the type of help his school promised, including access to teachers’ notes and reduced coursework. Brady, 14, made no academic progress in eighth grade, and he’s now heading to high school without the support he needs, his mother said.

“It’s been so frustrating not to even have an update at all,” said Clouse, of Ann Arbor. “He is going to go to high school and fail. I feel like my child will not get a high school diploma if he stays in Ann Arbor Public Schools.”

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