Advocates express alarm over ED's civil rights complaint dismissals

Politico

07-07-2025

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CASES DISMISSED — The Education Department's civil rights arm is dismissing complaints at a rapid clip, prompting concern from former officials and advocates about its function amid staffing cuts.
— In court documents filed last week, the department disclosed that its Office for Civil Rights dismissed 3,424 complaints between March 11 and June 27 'consistent with OCR's Case Processing Manual.' The documents state that 96 complaints were 'resolved' because of insufficient evidence during an investigation — and another 290 complaints with voluntary agreements, settlements or technical assistance.
— OCR also received 4,833 complaints, opened 309 for investigation and opened 26 directed investigations, according to a court declaration filed by department chief of staff Rachel Oglesby as part of a case that challenged the agency's decision to conduct a sweeping reduction in force.
— This all comes as seven of the department's 12 regional civil rights offices across the country were eliminated during the massive reduction in force in March. A federal judge in Massachusetts, however, ordered those workers be called back, saying the mass layoffs 'leaves OCR with the capacity to address only a small fraction of the complaints that it receives.'
— 'The nation's students and schools deserve a robust federal civil rights enforcement office that is fully equipped and prepared to enforce the full range of rights Congress guaranteed in law,' Catherine Lhamon, the department's civil rights chief under former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, said in a statement to POLITICO. 'The Trump Administration's own data reporting shows it has decimated its ability to fulfill its statutory duties, to the detriment of rights in school.'
— The Education Department declined to answer a series of detailed questions about its civil rights work, but said all of OCR's actions align with federal law.
'OCR has taken unprecedented steps to streamline its functions according to demand: for example, amid a growing volume of Title IX complaints, OCR partnered with the Department of Justice to expeditiously investigate sex-based discrimination claims,' agency spokesperson Julie Hartman said in a statement. 'OCR's daily accomplishments under the Trump Administration disprove the rampant fear-mongering by irresponsible media, and evince that OCR is vigorously upholding its responsibilities to protect all Americans' civil rights.'
— Still, one former agency official, granted anonymity due to fear of retaliation from the Trump administration, was stunned by the new data.
'That amount of dismissals in a three month period is unheard of,' the former official, who worked in OCR and was at the department for about 20 years, said. 'If they dismiss that amount of cases in a matter of three months, then they're not following the procedures. What it sounds like they're doing to me is they're just dismissing cases that they don't want to take the time to investigate, or put the resources into.' More from your host, Rebecca Carballo and Juan Perez Jr.
IT'S MONDAY, JULY 7. WELCOME TO WEEKLY EDUCATION. Let's grab coffee. Drop me a line at [e-mail]. Send tips to my colleagues Rebecca Carballo at [e-mail], Mackenzie Wilkes at [e-mail] and Juan Perez Jr. at [e-mail].
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Driving the day
GOING TO TRIAL — The policies supporting the Trump administration's efforts to deport pro-Palestinian student activists will be on trial after academic groups brought a broad lawsuit challenging them. The venue: a federal courtroom in Boston, where U.S. District Judge William Young — a Reagan-appointee with a sharp-elbowed wit — is set to preside Monday, POLITICO's Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report.
— The case marks the first significant trial of Trump 2.0, a challenge to the president's agenda before a judge who has made no secret of his alarm over the administration's immigration tactics and who recently rebuked the administration's efforts to slash grant funding on the basis of race and gender.
— At least five times in recent weeks, federal judges have forcefully rejected President Donald Trump's efforts to deport pro-Palestinian student activists. The five foreign-born academics, Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, Yunseo Chung, Rumeysa Ozturk and Badar Khan Suri, were all targeted by the Trump administration after Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared their presence in the United States detrimental to U.S. foreign policy goals.
At the White House
SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED — President Donald Trump signed the sprawling megabill designed to jumpstart his domestic policy agenda into law in a July Fourth ceremony at the White House. Here's what it means for education via our Mackenzie Wilkes:
— Federal student aid program overhaul: The legislation would eliminate Grad PLUS loans and graduate students would be limited to borrowing $20,500 a year and $100,000 over a lifetime. For professional students, like those in medical school, their borrowing would be capped at $50,000 a year and $200,000 over a lifetime.
— Some universities will see higher taxes on the net investment income of their endowments. Under the bill, universities with at least 3,000 students would be subject to a tax on a sliding scale based on the size of their student-adjusted endowment. The top tax rate would be 8 percent.
— The bill also creates the first federal school choice tax credit. Donors to scholarship granting organizations that support educational expenses like private school tuition, tutoring and services for children with disability would receive a dollar-for-dollar tax of up to $1,700 annually. States, however, would have the ability to opt-out and the Treasury Department would have broad authority to regulate the program.
Supreme Court
JUSTICES AGREE TO HEAR TRANS SPORTS BAN CHALLENGES — The Supreme Court last week added a pair of cases to next term's docket about state laws in Idaho and West Virginia that ban people assigned male at birth from competing on school teams for women and girls. Arguments in the cases are likely to take place in the fall with decisions expected from the high court by June 2026.
— Twenty-seven states have similar laws that ban transgender students from competing on teams consistent with their gender identity. The NCAA, college sports' top governing body, also voted in February to restrict the participation of transgender athletes in women's sports following Trump's executive order on sports.
— The justices will hear appeals from Idaho and West Virginia against lower-court orders that blocked the bans from taking effect. An appeals court ruled that Idaho's law violates the Constitution's equal protection clause by targeting transgender people, while another appeals court concluded that the West Virginia law violates Title IX, the federal law banning most sex discrimination by schools.
Syllabus
— These twins were college divers. Then new NCAA rules changed everything: The Washington Post
— College grad unemployment surges as employers replace new hires with AI: CBS News
— Harvard Graduate School of Education shuts down DEI office: WGBH
— LA school district demands inquiry after ICE officers filmed urinating on campus: The Guardian