The Trump administration insists it hasn’t wavered in its duty to protect the civil rights of America’s children even as it dismantles the Education Department. Yet its own data shows the agency has resolved far fewer civil rights cases than in past years despite families filing more complaints.
The Education Department’s civil rights branch lost nearly half its staff amid mass layoffs in March, raising questions about its ability to address a deep backlog of complaints from students alleging discrimination based on disability, sex or race. Pressed on the issue in June, Education Secretary Linda McMahon denied a slowdown.
“Not only are we reducing the backlog, but we are keeping up with the current amount with a reduced staff because we are doing it efficiently,” McMahon said at a Senate budget hearing.
By several measures, however, the output of the Office for Civil Rights appears to have fallen sharply in