Congresswoman Crockett, Texas Members of Congress Demand Secretary McMahon Reverse Course in Closing Department of Education’s Regional Office of Civil Rights Located in Dallas, Texas
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), along with 9 Democratic Members of Congress representing districts across the state of Texas, sent a letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahan demanding the Department of Education (“Department”) reverse its decision to close the Regional Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) located in Dallas Texas. The decision to close the Texas Regional OCR comes after the Trump Administration has taken several actions to undermine work of the Education Department, such as firing nearly half of its federal workforce, including those tasked with protecting the civil rights of students and educators.
Rep. Crockett and the Members wrote, “As you are aware, OCR plays a vital role in ensuring students have access to quality education by enforcing federal civil rights protections throughout our country’s education system. Such protections include ensuring students with disabilities receive meaningful access to their programs or activities in the most integrated, appropriate education settings, that students and faculty are protected against sexual discrimination in the classroom and in school programming and activities and ensuring that no student is discriminated against by schools because of their race, religion, national origin, or color.”
The Members continued, “In fiscal year 2024, the Department’s OCR received the highest volume of complaints ever, totaling 22,687 complaints. That number represented an 18% increase over the previous record high in FY 2023 of 19,201 complaints. Reports have shown that Department OCR attorneys tasked with investigating complaints are assigned to roughly sixty cases any given time—and many of these cases have been backlogged even prior to this new Administration. Yet rather than provide ORC with necessary resources and additional personnel to investigate and address these complaints and backlogs, it appears you have decided to cut Department’s workforce in half and shutter several regional OCR offices—including one located in a state with one of the country’s largest education systems.”
“Let us be clear—closing the Dallas Regional OCR Office, along with at least six other regional OCR offices, and firing federal ORC employees is not only a recipe for disaster but will cause irreparable harm to our students and their families by delaying the justice they are seeking for having had their civil rights violated. It is the closure and resolution of these cases, not the closure of Department OCRs, that will bring the justice these individuals deserve. Given the severity of the damage that this decision will cause our students, we are demanding that you reverse course before it is too late,” the Members conclude.
Click here to view the letter in full.
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