Civil Rights Complaints Reach All-time High at Department of Education

The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education is tasked with investigating complaints of race, gender, ethnic, disability, language discrimination, and age, and ensuring that schools are in compliance with the relevant law.  In 2009, OCR received 6,364 complaints.  In 2014, it received 9,989, which was a record high.  The reasons are not altogether clear, but the Washington Post points out two likely causes.  First, OCR's recent guidance on sexual assault on college campuses and increasing student advocacy on this issue may have prompted several complaints in that area, although no single area of discrimination has experienced an unusual increase.  Second, as Catherine Lhamon, the Assistant Secretary at OCR, remarked: “Some of this is about the community believing that we’re here and we’re in business and we’re prepared to do the work.”

The second explanation rings particularly true.  As I have noted several times, OCR has begun enforcing anti-discrimination more aggressively over the past year or two.  Various policy guidance documents have all but invited individuals to bring complaints that they might have foregone in prior years, thinking that such a complaint was a waste of time.  

Not mentioned is the fact that courts have grown so inhospitable to some claims, particularly those requiring evidence of intentional race discrimination. See Alexander v. Sandoval. OCR's continuing authority to enforce its disparate impact regulations leaves it as one of the venues of last resort for communities experiencing educational inequality.  This reality, however, is overtaxing the resources of OCR.  The time it takes to resolve cases has grown considerable.  It is now asking Congress for additional funding to hire 200 additional attorneys and investigators.  Of course, what I might term as OCR's successes are termed as overreaches by some in Congress, who are thus skeptical of the efficacy of funding increases.