WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Education announced on Friday, June 29th, it will to delay the implementation of its own regulations combatting racial disproportionality of school discipline among special education students. These “significant disproportionality” regulations were developed to create a consistent and effective process for assessing whether students of color are overrepresented in special education and if such students are disciplined more frequently because of their disabilities. Delaying and ultimately rescinding these regulations will allow states to continue setting the bar so high that they can avoid any legal obligation to investigate and address legitimate and well-documented racial disparities in special education within their schools.
“We condemn the Department of Education’s misguided decision to delay implementation of important regulations that would protect some of our most vulnerable students – students with disabilities who are often subject to harsh and disproportionate discipline by their schools,” said Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “This delay and the potential rescission of these regulations will allow schools to continue suspending and expelling students of color with disabilities at disproportionately high rates, unfairly keeping them out of the classroom and exacerbating the school-to-prison pipeline. Such action is unacceptable and continues to demonstrate Secretary DeVos’s hostility towards protecting the civil rights of our nation’s most vulnerable children.”
In May, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law submitted formal comments to the U.S. Department of Education opposing the delay of these regulations. Those comments are available here.
About the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law:
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. Now in its 55th year, the Lawyers’ Committee is continuing its quest to “Move America Toward Justice.” The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice for all, particularly in the areas of criminal justice, fair housing and community development, economic justice, educational opportunities, and voting rights. For more information, please visit https://www.lawyerscommittee.org/
Contact:
Derrick Robinson | Drobinson@lawyerscommittee.org
