Civil Rights

Read more about civil rights and schools, enforcement by the Education Department's office for civil rights, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, Title IX, and more

Explainer

The U.S. Department of Education, in Washington, D.C., pictured on February 21, 2021.
How a Federal Office Investigates and Resolves Discrimination Complaints Against Schools
What is OCR, how do you file a complaint, and what relief can it offer for students or staff whose civil rights may have been violated?
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The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Federal Opinion The Ed. Dept.'s Civil Rights and Special Ed. Offices Are Moving. Here's What That Means
Short-term changes are unlikely to be noticeable. Longer term, they may be consequential.
Rick Hess, June 25, 2026
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9 min read
Image of a box of files
Laura Baker/Education Week + Getty
Federal Opinion ‘None of This Is Abstract’: The Real Harm of Trump’s Ed. Dept. Civil Rights Move
Here’s why families will feel it when student civil rights enforcement moves to the Justice Dept.
Alumni Collective of the U.S. Dept. of Ed., Office for Civil Rights , June 24, 2026
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4 min read
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating how 43 school districts in three states teach about sexuality and gender identity and whether they give parents the opportunity to opt their children out of lessons that conflict with their religious beliefs on June 16, 2026.PICTURED, Protesters gather outside the Glendale Unified School District headquarters in Glendale, California, on June 20, 2023. Over 300 people gathered outside the Glendale Unified School District headquarters, as protests continued over the issue of teaching children about same-sex parents and queer issues.
Protesters gather outside the Glendale school district in Glendale, California, on June 20, 2023 over the issue of teaching children about same-sex parents and queer issues. The U.S. Department of Justice is now investigating three other school districts over LGBTQ+ themes in sex ed. and beyond. (The Glendale district is not one of them.)
DAVID SWANSON / AFP via Getty Images
Federal Trump's Justice Dept. Investigates Dozens of Districts Over LGBTQ+ Curricula
The investigations target how schools discuss sexuality and gender identity and whether parents can opt their children out of lessons.
Evie Blad, June 16, 2026
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8 min read
A banner featuring a photo of President Donald Trump hangs outside the Department of Justice in Washington on Monday, June 15, 2026.
A banner featuring a photo of President Donald Trump hangs outside the Department of Justice in Washington on Monday, June 15, 2026. The U.S. Department of Education is moving its office for civil rights to the Justice Department as part of a fresh wave of outsourcing.
Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP
Federal Education Department Moves Special Ed. and Civil Rights to Other Agencies
Special education programs help schools serve more than seven million K-12 students with disabilities nationwide.
Mark Lieberman, June 16, 2026
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9 min read
WASHINGTON,DC - JUNE 10: Dr. Macquline King, Superintendent and CEO of Chicago Public Schools speaks with Mr. Johnathan Smith, Managing Director, Education and Federal Strategic Advocacy, National Center for Youth Law and Dr. Aaron Spence, Superintendent, Loudoun County Public Schools with US Representative Mark Takano, Democrat from California, before a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing titled “Breaking Trust: Attacks On Parental Rights, Inappropriate Content, And Legal Abuses In America’s Schools” on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, June 10, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Chicago Superintendent Macquline King speaks with Johnathan Smith, the managing director for education and federal strategic advocacy at the National Center for Youth Law, and Loudon County, Va. Superintendent Aaron Spence, before a hearing on parents rights in schools on Capitol Hill on June 10, 2026 in Washington.
Jabin Botsford/For Education Week
Families & the Community Lawmakers Grill Superintendents on Transgender Student Policies
The districts' policies around transgender students were repeatedly questioned.
Evie Blad, June 10, 2026
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5 min read
Large hand making pressure over group of small, silhouetted figures. Oppressions, manipulation. Contemporary art collage. Photocopy effect. Concept of world crisis, business, economy, control
Education Week + iStock
Federal Opinion We Shouldn’t Have to Choose Between Federal Overreach and Abandonment in K-12
Why is federal power being used to occupy our cities but not protect our students’ civil rights?
Sally Iverson, March 4, 2026
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4 min read
Image of students in isolation in artistic manner with red evocative color and shadows.
Laura Baker/Education Week & Getty
Special Education Investigation Finds 'Shocking Overuse' of Seclusion and Restraint in This District
Restraint and seclusion should not be used in routine school discipline, the Justice Department says.
Evie Blad, February 24, 2026
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5 min read
Commuters walk past the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Eduction, which were ordered closed for the day for what officials described as security reasons amid large-scale layoffs, on March 12, 2025, in Washington.
The U.S. Department of Education spent up to $38 million last year to pay civil rights staffers who remained on administrative leave while the agency tried to lay them off.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Federal Ed. Dept. Paid Civil Rights Staffers Up to $38 Million as It Tried to Lay Them Off
A report from Congress' watchdog looks into the Trump Admin.'s efforts to downsize the Education Department.
Alyson Klein, February 3, 2026
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5 min read
Image of a hand raising a red flag.
DigitalVision Vectors
Special Education Parents Should Continue to File Disability Rights Complaints, Say Special Ed. Advocates
Continuing to file them puts pressure on the Ed. Dept. to enforce special ed. laws.
Evie Blad, November 21, 2025
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4 min read
Pennsylvania Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-Allegheny, is pictured during a confirmation hearing for acting
Pennsylvania state Sen. Lindsey Williams, a Democrat, is pictured during an education committee hearing on Aug. 12, 2025. Williams is preparing legislation that would create a state-level office of civil rights to investigate potential civil rights violations in schools. Williams is introducing the measure in response to the U.S. Department of Education's slashing of its own office for civil rights.
Courtesy of Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus
Federal Trump’s Ed. Dept. Slashed Civil Rights Enforcement. How States Are Responding
Could a shift in civil rights enforcement be the next example of "returning education to the states?"
Brooke Schultz, November 7, 2025
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6 min read
The exterior of the U.S. Department of Education building is pictured on Oct. 11, 2025, in Washington.
The exterior of the U.S. Department of Education building is pictured on Oct. 11, 2025, in Washington. The agency on Tuesday told more than 250 office for civil rights employees they've been laid off, just days after starting another round of layoffs during the federal government shutdown.
Aaron M. Sprecher via AP
Federal Ed. Dept. Tells More Than 250 Civil Rights Staff They've Been Laid Off
The layoffs come just days after the agency began a new round of staff reductions during the shutdown.
Brooke Schultz, October 14, 2025
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4 min read
Itinerant teacher April Wilson works with Zion Stewart at Bond County Early Childhood Center in Greenville, Ill., on Sept. 29, 2025.
Teacher April Wilson, who works with visually impaired students, works with a student at Bond County Early Childhood Center in Greenville, Ill., on Sept. 29, 2025. The latest round of layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education will leave the federal office of special education programs with few staffers.
Michael B. Thomas for Education Week
Federal Ed. Dept. Offices Will Be Virtually Wiped Out in Latest Layoffs
The U.S. Department of Education is losing about a fifth of its already diminished workforce.
Mark Lieberman & Brooke Schultz, October 13, 2025
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9 min read
A commuter walks past the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Education on March 12, 2025, in Washington.
A commuter walks past the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington on March 12, 2025. A federal court sided with the Trump administration this week, allowing it to proceeds with laying off half of the department's office for civil rights.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Law & Courts Appeals Court Says Ed. Dept. Can Fire Civil Rights Staff
Office for civil rights employees had already begun returning to work under a court order
Brooke Schultz, September 30, 2025
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4 min read
A teacher helps two engineering students build a butterfly house.
The Trump administration has sued the Rhode Island Department of Education and the public school district in Providence, saying a program that provides loan forgiveness to teachers of color discriminates against white teachers.
Allison Shelley for All4Ed
Equity & Diversity Loan Forgiveness for Teachers of Color Is Discriminatory, Trump Admin. Says
The U.S. Department of Justice says the program meant to boost the ranks of minority teachers discriminates against white educators.
Alyson Klein, September 16, 2025
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3 min read