WASHINGTON D.C. — U.S. Representatives Jahana Hayes (CT-05), Sean Casten (IL-06), Gwen Moore (WI-04), and Don Beyer (VA-08) led 39 House Democrats in a letter to Department of Education (DOE) Secretary Lisa McMahon demanding the agency immediately restore shuttered Office for Civil Rights (OCR) hubs and fulfill its statutory civil rights mandate.
“While slashing the Department’s workforce has impacted every aspect of the Department’s role, OCR was particularly hard hit,” the lawmakers wrote. “At the time of these terminations, OCR had 550 employees, at least 243 of whom have reportedly been put on administrative leave or terminated. These terminations, and the shuttering of offices across the country, will make the Department less able to protect vulnerable students against harassment and civil rights violations.”
The OCR is the core federal body that protects the rights of students to equal access to education. OCR lawyers and staff are responsible for investigating complaints of discrimination brought by students when they are discriminated against by schools based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, and age. They also develop regulations and policy guidance to support these protections and provide technical assistance to schools attempting to protect the rights of students. OCR administers the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), a biennial survey of early education and K-12 local education agencies and schools on enforcing civil rights protections in their districts.
In March, reports indicate DOE enacted significant staffing cuts to OCR, and closed OCR hubs in Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
The letter was also signed by Reps. Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Judy Chu (CA-28), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Danny Davis (IL-07), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Dwight Evans (PA-03), Laura Friedman (CA-30), Daniel Goldman (NY-10), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Glenn Ivey (MD-04), Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), Julie Johnson (TX-32), William Keating (MA-09), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Greg Landsman (OH-01), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), John Mannion (NY-22), Betty McCollum (MN-04), Grace Meng (NY-06), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Jerrold Nadler (NY-12), Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), Scott Peters (CA-50), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Raul Ruiz (CA-25), Linda Sánchez (CA-38), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Lateefah Simon (CA-12), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Norma Torres (CA-35), Juan Vargas (CA-52), Marc Veasey (TX-33), Nikema Williams (GA-05)
A copy of the letter can be found here.
###