Discrimination

Read more about discrimination claims in schools based on race, sex, etc., including under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Title IX
A sign for the Internal Revenue Service building is pictured in Washington, May 4, 2021.
A sign for the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington on May 4, 2021. The agency has proposed new regulations that would threaten the tax-exempt status of any private school that give racial minorities preference in admissions, scholarships, and programming.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Equity & Diversity Trump Extends Anti-DEI Push to Private Schools, Eyeing Their Tax-Exempt Status
Schools that give racial minorities preferences would lose tax-exempt status under newly proposed rules.
Alyson Klein, September 3, 2026
5 min read
CLOVIS, CA MAY 30, 2026: Transgender athlete AB Hernandez, center, competed in three qualifying events at the CIF State Track Championship in Clovis, CA on May 30, 2026. Hernandez placed first in qualifying for the long jump on Friday. Hernandez competes in the finals on Saturday in the high jump, long jump and triple jump.
Transgender athlete AB Hernandez, center, competed in three qualifying events at the CIF State Track Championship in Clovis, Calif., on May 30, 2026. The Trump administration sued California over its policy allowing transgender girls to compete on girls' athletic teams. A judge has dismissed that lawsuit.
Tomas Ovalle / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Law & Courts Title IX Doesn't Require Transgender Athletes' Exclusion, Judge Rules
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from the Trump administration alleging California violated Title IX.
Kevin Rector, Los Angeles Times, September 2, 2026
4 min read
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights for the Department of Education nominee Kimberly Richey testifies before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee about her nomination in Washington, D.C., on June 5, 2025.
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberley Richey testifies before the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee at her nomination hearing in Washington on June 5, 2025. A new letter to educators from Richey instructs schools not to consider race at all in school discipline policies, following the Trump administration's rescission of longtime anti-discrimination rules.
Jason Andrew for Education Week
Federal Education Department Tells Schools Race Can’t Factor Into Student Discipline
A letter to educators follows up on last month's rescission of longstanding discrimination rules.
Mark Walsh, August 18, 2026
5 min read
A worker attaches a rope as they prepare to remove the statue of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson from its pedestal on July 1, 2020, in Richmond, Va. Shenandoah County, Virginia's school board voted 5-1 early Friday, May 10, 2024, to rename Mountain View High School as Stonewall Jackson High School and Honey Run Elementary as Ashby Lee Elementary four years after the names had been removed.
A worker attaches a rope as they prepare to remove the statue of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson from its pedestal on July 1, 2020, in Richmond, Va. The Shenandoah County school board in Virginia—which scrapped the Confederate names for two schools in 2020 and then restored them in 2024—is now under court order to rename the schools.
Steve Helber/AP Photo
Equity & Diversity District Must Rename Schools After It Restored Confederate Names, Judge Rules
The district removed the Confederate names in 2020 only to bring them back four years later.
Matthew Stone, August 7, 2026
4 min read
Chief Leschi Schools senior Gerald Dillon, 18, who spends time as a teaching assistant for a second grade class through the school's career and technical education program, look son Wednesday, March 18, 2026, at Chief Leschi Schools in Puyallup, Wash.
The Education Department just withdrew 60-year-old regulations holding school districts responsible for "disparate impact" of their policies across racial and ethnic student groups. It also rescinded similar regulations for career-technical education programs. A March 18, 2026 photo shows a senior who works part time through the career's CTE program at Chief Leschi Schools in Puyallup, Wash.
Lindsey Wasson/AP
Equity & Diversity Education Department Scraps Longstanding Discrimination Rules
Districts will no longer be liable for "disparate impact"—in discipline, course access, or CTE programs.
Mark Walsh & Stephen Sawchuk, July 23, 2026
7 min read
Serious young Afro-American teacher in casual shirt standing in front of projection screen and presenting a lesson in class.
Education Week + iStock
Teaching Profession Opinion We Can’t Give Up on Teacher Diversity
Many efforts to recruit Black teachers leave out a crucial element.
Sharif El-Mekki, June 10, 2026
5 min read
Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks to a group of event attendees for his Parent Empowerment Night event where he advocated for school choice and vouchers at Temple Christian School in Fort Worth on Thursday, March 6, 2025.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks to attendees of his Parent Empowerment Night event where he advocated school choice and vouchers at Temple Christian School in Fort Worth on March 6, 2025. Texas is accepting applications for its new private school choice program for two more weeks after a judge intervened in a lawsuit claiming religious discrimination for the state's exclusion of Islamic schools.
Chris Torres/Fort Worth Star-Telegram via TNS
School Choice & Charters Families Get 2 More Weeks to Apply for Nation's Largest School Choice Program
Lawsuits say Texas is discriminating by excluding Islamic schools from the private school choice program.
Jennifer Vilcarino, March 18, 2026
3 min read
US NEWS TEXAS SCHOOL VOUCHERS DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT DA
Kelly Hancock, Texas' acting state comptroller, speaks alongside Gov. Greg Abbott in Richland Hills, Texas, on May 17, 2022, when Hancock was a state senator. Hancock has excluded Islamic schools from Texas' new, $1 billion private school choice program, which he now oversees, according to a new lawsuit.
Elias Valverde II/The Dallas Morning News via TNS
School Choice & Charters The Nation's Largest School Choice Program Excludes Muslim Schools, Lawsuit Says
The largest state to allow public funds for private schooling faces its first legal challenge.
Jennifer Vilcarino, March 3, 2026
4 min read
The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Minneapolis Public Schools for discrimination in its efforts to shield teachers of color from layoffs and reassignments.
The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Minneapolis Public Schools for discrimination in its efforts to shield teachers of color from layoffs and reassignments.
Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune via TNS
Equity & Diversity Trump Admin. Accuses Minneapolis Schools of Racism in Protecting Minority Teachers
The Justice Department has filed its latest suit alleging racism for efforts to boost teacher diversity.
Anthony Lonetree, Star Tribune, December 11, 2025
2 min read
A U.S. Supreme Court police officer walks in front of the Supreme Court amid renovations as the justices hear oral arguments on President Donald Trump's push to expand control over independent federal agencies in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 8, 2025.
A U.S. Supreme Court police officer walks in front of the court amid renovations in Washington, on Dec. 8, 2025. The court took several actions in education cases, including ordering a lower court to take a fresh look at a lawsuit challenging a New York state law that ended religious exemptions to school vaccinations.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court Orders New Review of Religious Exemptions to School Vaccines
The U.S. Supreme Court ordered a new look in a school vaccination case and declined to review library book removals.
Mark Walsh, December 8, 2025
6 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
4 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week
Equity & Diversity Opinion Schools Cannot Afford to Ignore Race and Identity
People often don't notice discrimination if it doesn't affect them directly.
Larry Ferlazzo, October 13, 2025
13 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
3 min read
A newly-constructed gender neutral bathroom is seen at Shawnee Mission East High School, Friday, June 16, 2023, in Prairie Village, Kan.
A newly-constructed gender-neutral bathroom is seen at Shawnee Mission East High School, Friday, June 16, 2023, in Prairie Village, Kan. The Shawnee Mission school district is one of four in Kansas that the Trump administration has started investigating at the urging of the state's Republican attorney general, Kris Kobach.
Charlie Riedel/AP
States Some State Leaders Cheer as Trump's Ed. Dept. Investigates Their Schools
The use of the office for civil rights for political purposes has been dialed up in the second Trump administration, experts say.
Brooke Schultz, August 25, 2025
6 min read