Perverting the Mission: The Trump Administration’s Attempt to Distort Civil Rights Enforcement

Victoria DeLano had only been on the job three months when she was fired as part of mass layoffs by the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE). As a disabled advocate herself, her insights were invaluable in identifying and following up on discrimination cases in Alabama for the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Her termination is significant because according to DeLano, she was the only enforcement officer in Alabama. Following that logic, there is currently no one doing that job in the state, and as DeLano said to Mother Jones, “... Alabama needs OCR…We have schools in my state that still tell the kids in wheelchairs to enter by the trash dumpster. Do we still want to regress from there, where students with disabilities are in institutions and not in public?”

The Office for Civil Rights was established in 1967 to uphold Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. At its founding, OCR’s mission was simple: identify significant civil rights violations and make recommendations for corrective action. Under the current administration, however, OCR’s mission has been deliberately undermined. From the Dear Colleague Letter offering misconstrued interpretations of the Civil Rights Act to the illegal firing of OCR staff, the very office meant to hold schools and districts accountable is being positioned to silence protected communities while claiming to uphold their civil rights.

If a person in a public school community is the victim of a civil rights violation or observes discrimination, they can file a complaint with OCR within 180 days of the event. In FY2024, OCR received 22,687 complaints, an 18 percent increase over the previous fiscal year. Complaints are reviewed based on guidelines in the OCR Case Processing Manual and if there’s sufficient evidence, the reviewer will open an investigation, which was DeLano’s job. In the previous Trump administration, ED revised the Case Processing Manual, making it more difficult to open an investigation and easier to dismiss complaints without review. By increasing the requirements to prove discrimination, it weakened enforcement. This was somewhat backtracked but the administration may revisit this tactic in the future.

Under typical circumstances, OCR investigates complaints in a few major areas. Race violations, which include language status and national origin, are upheld by the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in programs that receive federal funds. In Fort Collins, CO, Stephanie Watson Lewis, a Black parent, filed a complaint with OCR when her bi-racial son, a sophomore at a majority-white charter school, was experiencing ongoing racial discrimination and harassment from other students. Watson Lewis escalated the issue to OCR when she believed that the schools response was inadequate, and the filing includes text messages between school board members that suggests racist jokes, remarks, and bullying was somewhat embedded within student culture.

Gender violations, which include pregnancy status, gender identity, sexual harassment, and sexual violence, are upheld by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. In Oklahoma’s Owasso Public Schools, OCR opened an investigation when a student, who identified as non-binary, committed suicide following almost two years of reported harassment and bullying centering on sex and gender. The investigation found that both the student and parent had reported the harassment to the school counselor and administrators, and to the district, including 15 reported instances of sexual harassment and bullying against the student in the two weeks preceding their death.

For disability violations, OCR upholds two main laws, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. In Michigan, OCR found that the state improperly limited additional services to students with disabilities that would have made up for lost instructional time due to school closures during the pandemic. In Darien, CT, OCR investigated Ox Ridge Elementary School after a parent filed a complaint about missing curb cuts that are required for wheelchair accessibility onto the sidewalk and into the school. While Kate Haavik’s son did not have a physical disability, his inability to cross the street onto the sidewalk on his bike meant that people in wheelchairs couldn’t either.

In each of these cases, parents, community members, and advocates turned to OCR for recourse for obvious civil rights violations, and when states and districts failed to resolve the issues themselves. OCR plays a pivotal role in holding our decentralized education system accountable for ensuring that students' civil rights are upheld, and that they are not harmed while in publicly funded learning environments. Without OCR’s intervention, harm to students would have continued with few alternatives for either students or families.

Recently, the Trump administration laid off nearly half the staff at ED, including personnel in OCR’s regional offices. These staff play a critical role investigating accessibility issues, interviewing student groups about their experiences in school, and resolving complaints. US District Judge James Bredar temporarily blocked layoffs in 20 states, but the ruling is already being narrowed to just federal employees in DC, citing concerns over employees in states not involved in the lawsuit. Whether or not Judge Bredar’s decision stands or is appealed, the move to significantly reduce numbers of civil rights staff aligns with the administration's seemingly main priority: using OCR to protect communities it deems worthy and strip away the civil rights of everyone else.

From the start of the Trump administration, the office essentially stopped investigating complaints, aside from disability cases. But as a lawsuit filed by Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) and the National Center for Youth Law points out, gutting OCR and firing ED staff is an abdication of the Office’s legal responsibility. On February 14, the current acting Assistant Secretary, Craig Trainor signed a Dear Colleague Letter outlining the administration’s distorted approach to civil rights enforcement. Subsequently in Maine, OCR opened a Title IX investigation into and threatened to pull funding from the state because of its protection of trans students and allowing their participation in organized sports. In Colorado, OCR opened a directed investigation into East High School for discriminating against female students because the students voted to turn what was once a girls restroom into a gender-neutral restroom. OCR also launched investigations into 51 colleges, alleging discrimination because of partnerships, scholarships, and initiatives that consider or center on race. Relatedly, Columbia University has lost approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts, with recently confirmed Secretary McMahon stating that the university, “has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus,” and calling the protests illegal, despite being protected by the First Amendment. The university has acquiesced to the Trump administrations demands, and according the Secretary McMahon, is “on track” to have its funds reinstated.

Some states have already begun to resist the Trump administration’s clear overreach to protect students. In Maine, Gov. Janet Mills is refusing to comply with the administration directive to bar trans athletes from participating in girls sports. Maine’s Human Rights Act, established in 1971, recognizes the trans community as a protected class. Other states, however, have embraced the administration’s stance. At the end of February, Iowa became the first state whose legislature voted to strip gender identity from its civil rights code in the name of “protecting women.” But if gender identity protections can be dismissed then so can other issues on gender, race, and disability. A number of Republican-led states have started to push for laws defining two genders following Trump’s non-legally binding executive order defining gender as strictly binary, a number of Republican-led states have pushed for similar laws. It is likely that more states will come out siding with or against the Trump administration along party lines. Those who resist will likely face cuts to funding, bringing further harm to students.

While the Trump administration will face an uphill battle to end the Department of Education, schools are still in session and learning is happening. And despite the executive and reduction in force orders, OCR’s original mission remains critical. Students across the country need parents, community members and advocates to step in to ensure that public education remains a means to full citizenship and participation in the American Dream. That means continuing to file OCR complaints if civil rights violations occur, attending school board meetings, voting in midterms and special elections, and being unrelenting when it comes to holding elected members' feet to the fire. Students deserve an education system that honors their humanity, protects their civil rights, and prepares them to thrive as active members of a diverse, democratic society.