Parents whose discrimination complaints have gone unresolved and have been further delayed are suing the U.S. Department of Education over its mass layoffs, which cut deeply into the agency’s civil rights investigation arm.
The lawsuit—filed in federal court in Washington on Friday by two parents and The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, which advocates for students with disabilities—argues that the dismissal of nearly half of the agency’s staff has “decimated” the Education Department’s office for civil rights, “leaving students and families with little chance of their complaints being processed and investigated and sabotaging OCR’s ability to fulfil its statutory and regulatory mandate to enforce civil rights laws in schools.”
Meanwhile, the parents argue, President Donald Trump’s administration is opening investigations aimed at stifling programs that support students of color and LGBTQ+ students.
The parents are asking a judge to find the Education Department’s actions unlawful, and for the department to “restore the investigation and processing capacity of OCR” and process complaints quickly and equitably.
The office is charged with investigating discrimination complaints in the nation’s K-12 schools and universities that receive federal funding. It receives tens of thousands of complaints annually; it resolved 16,005 complaints and received 22,687 in 2024, according to data released by the department.
On Tuesday, though, the office saw some of the deepest cuts in the department-wide reduction in force. It will lose seven of its regional offices and at least 40 percent of its staff, as a result of a seismic reduction in force that will shrink the department’s overall footprint from more than 4,000 employees to fewer than 2,200 by the end of this month.
The civil rights office is the Education Department’s second-largest division by headcount, with 562 employees in 2023.
The firings quickly drew a lawsuit from 21 Democratic attorneys general on Thursday, who argued that the downsizing makes it impossible for the department to carry out its central functions and are an attempt to make good on Trump’s campaign promise to abolish the department without going through Congress.
The lawsuit from the parents names Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor, and the Education Department as defendants.
The Education Department did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the litigation. A spokesperson said previously that the cuts were “implemented carefully and in compliance with all applicable regulations and law” and “will not directly impact students and families.”
The cuts at OCR came after the Trump administration had largely halted its work early in the president’s second term—prohibiting civil rights investigators from holding mediations or talking to anyone external, making their jobs all but impossible, employees have said.
Meanwhile, the administration is using the office to aggressively enforce Trump’s selected political priorities, opening investigations into schools and athletic associations that don’t bar transgender athletes and colleges it says are violating a directive banning race-based programming. The office has also said it will emphasize investigations into allegations of antisemitic harassment.
OCR has abdicated its responsibilities, parents say
Parents in the latest litigation argue that these cuts to OCR, coupled with the enforcement of Trump’s policy priorities, will disproportionately harm students of color and LGBTQ+ students.
“OCR has abdicated its responsibility to enforce civil rights protections, leaving students who should be able to trust and rely on their government to protect and defend their rights to instead endure discriminatory and unsafe learning environments without recourse,” the complaint says.
Nikki Carter, one of the parents in the lawsuit, alleges in the complaint that she—a Black woman—was twice banned from school properties after a confrontation with a white staff member. The district did not subject another parent, who was white, to the same restrictions when that parent also confronted the staff member.
Carter submitted a complaint to OCR in 2022, and OCR opened an investigation to see whether the school had discriminated against her and other Black parents based on race, according to the complaint.
But the investigation stalled as the Trump administration took office in January, the complaint alleges. She has received no indication that the investigation has resumed.
Another parent, identified in the filing as A.W., submitted a complaint with OCR in 2024 after her child was sexually assaulted and harassed by a classmate, according to the complaint. As investigations froze, she reached out in February to the OCR contact investigating, and was told she would receive an update “as soon as possible.” But her follow-up messages went unanswered.
“A.W. described learning about OCR’s decision to freeze processing of Title IX claims as a ‘gut punch’ after ‘so many dead ends,’” the complaint says.
Other parents and families with open investigations have had similar experiences, the complaint says.
