Civil Rights and Education Groups to DeVos: Don’t Use Regulatory Review Process to Undermine Civil Rights

WASHINGTON—Today, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of approximately 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States, submitted comments with 43 civil rights and education groups to the U.S. Department of Education in response to the notice posted in the Federal Register requesting input on regulations that may be appropriate for repeal, replacement, or modification.

In the letter, the groups make clear that the department is a civil rights agency that is responsible for enforcing the laws that protect students from discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, and disability, saying that they “reject any effort to undermine the protections and supports these laws provide through the rescission or modification of the regulations and guidances used to ensure compliance and to inform all parties of their rights and obligations under the law.”

The groups write:

“Students deserve, and the law requires, a Department of Education that is working to protect all students from discrimination and to provide for equal educational opportunity. These regulations and guidance documents, and continued enforcement of the law, are critical to making students’ rights real.”

Read the groups’ full comments here.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of approximately 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference, visit www.civilrights.org.