The education department on Friday was sued for deep cuts to two parents of students with disabilities and the offices assigned to enforce civil rights at schools, alleging that it became a tool for discrimination under the Trump administration.
The lawsuit alleges that education layoffs prevent the office for civil rights from fulfilling its legal obligations and prevent it from quickly reviewing and investigating complaints. It accused women and girls of disrupting their office work and making it more difficult for students of color, LGBTQ students and students of color to seek protection under civil rights laws. At the same time, the lawsuit said the government prioritizes claims from white people, men, or otherwise complying with strict gender views.
The lawsuit also aims to force the government to rehire Civil Rights Bureau investigators who lost their jobs this week. Over the past two months, the administration has cut the department staff of 4,133 workers in half and closed seven of the 12 local chapters of the Civil Rights Bureau.
These shootings and job closures have led to the incident being put on hold suddenly, a representative from a fired employee and disabled rights group said in an interview.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington by Maryland-based council of parental lawyers and supporters, Maryland-based council, on behalf of parents who said civil rights complaints were left in the frontier as a result of a Civil Rights Office layoff.
“In suspending the thousands of complaints filed in the public while launching and advancing investigations selected based on the administration's political priorities, the Civil Rights Bureau said “it will abandon its responsibility to take into account complaints filed by students and their families in an equitable manner, politicizing its work and undermining its credibility as a neutral fact-detector.”
The Education Department did not respond to requests for comment. Department spokeswoman Maddie Biederman said earlier this week that he “confidently believes that OCR's dedicated staff will fulfill their legal responsibility.”
Trump's aggressive efforts to overhaul the federal government by quickly reducing the workforce have skyrocketed lawsuits from unions, state attorney generals and advocacy groups. Several lawsuits claim discrimination and civil rights violations. But the one submitted on Friday may be the first to accuse the Trump administration of targeting minority legal rights and moving forward on the agenda. Trump has issued an order rolling back trans rights, aiming to diversity, equity and inclusive programs.
In 2024, the Civil Rights Bureau filed 22,687 complaints regarding school discrimination based on race, gender, disability and sexual orientation, according to the annual report.
According to the lawsuit, Congress has approved the office's $140 million budget for salaries for 643 workers and other necessary resources and other required resources. At the beginning of the year, investigators carried an average of around 50 cases, the lawsuit added.
Instead of following the law, the Trump administration has banned the Civil Rights Office from moving forward pending cases and instead launched a new investigation into the program for people of color and LGBTQ students.
On Friday, the Civil Rights Office announced a new university survey for “granting unacceptable racial-based scholarships” or other programs and activities based on “racial preferences and stereotypes.”
Previously opened cases have faced considerable hurdles after layoffs, which reduced the likelihood that parents and students would investigate complaints in a “quick, fair, consistent and impartial manner,” the lawsuit states.
At the start of the new administration, civil rights investigators were banned from moving forward on pending cases despite targeted programs for students of color and LGBTQ students being opened, according to the lawsuit.
One new study focused on the annual “Color United Summit Students” held by the school district in Ithaca, New York. Another new study aimed at Denver's public school system for creating gender-neutral bathrooms.
At a demonstration in Washington on Friday morning, dozens of people gathered under vacant windows at the Department of Education headquarters to oppose what they call the agenda to undermine civil rights and public education.
Brittany Myatt, who was recently fired as a lawyer for the Department's Civil Rights Office's Philadelphia chapter, told the crowd: “Civil rights are not a 21st century debate.” She said she was “silenced” in her job as a voice for vulnerable children and the community.
Suffocating her tears, she recited the poem.
“OCR has become a familiar face to the important work that is performed daily in schools across the country, serving a diverse range of students, and schools have lost valuable assets,” she said. “I wish I could somehow steal your heartache for the students who are learning and growing now.”
Maria Town, the American Association for Disabilities CEO and an Obama administration White House official, told the crowd about growing up as a child with a disability in public schools.
“I was a student who received adaptive physical therapy at school, a student who received mental health counseling at school, and was undergoing developmental assessment at school,” Town said. “My overall thoughts about what I was able to do as a disabled child who saw no one like me in my community happened because I was included in school.”
