America’s public schools have a legal responsibility to protect every student’s right to learn in an environment free from unlawful discrimination. Institutions, programs, or activities that receive funds from the Department of Education are required by law to operate in a nondiscriminatory manner. This includes most everything a school does: admissions, recruitment, financial aid, academic programs, student services, counseling and guidance, discipline, classroom assignments, grading, and so on.
When schools fail to meet their responsibilities under federal civil rights laws, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is tasked with remedying such failures. Often, the process of remedying civil rights violations begins with filing a complaint with OCR.
In order to demystify this process, Parents Defending Education has created a PDF guide to walk you through this process.
How to File A Complaint with the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education
Resources for Parents:
- National School Board Association (NSBA) – Learn more about the advocacy agenda of the NSBA, the national association to which all local school board members belong by default.
- American Enterprise Institute (AEI) – A detailed survey and snapshot report on the nation’s school boards, governance, statistics on school board members, and more.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) – Is your school board focused on pathways to success for all students? Do they discuss meeting the needs of students not only to be college-ready, but also work and life ready? The future job openings by education level are predicted by BLS and your local school board should be preparing students accordingly.
- National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) – Love data? The NCES is the U.S. Department of Education’s data warehouse from its Institute for Education Science. Find information on the size of schools, school districts, student population, attendance, demographics, and more on this site.
- Education Commission of the States – An overview and comparison of each state’s role in educationof their K-12 students, including their constitutions and the power and duties of their legislatures, governors, state educational leadership, and local school boards.
