Education Department Must Enforce Protections for Students with Disabilities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kristen Voorhees, [email protected], 202.548.7166

WASHINGTON – Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference Education Fund, released the following statement on the Department of Education’s recognition that the Equity in IDEA regulation is in effect. The regulation will calculate significant disproportionality in placement and evaluation of students of color in special education programs:

“Children of color, with and without disabilities, deserve our government’s robust and equitable enforcement of their civil rights protections. The Department of Education’s acknowledgement that the Equity in IDEA regulation is in effect is one step in the right direction to fulfilling that responsibility. Now the department must ensure compliance with the IDEA law and safeguard our most marginalized communities from discriminatory treatment.”

The Department of Education’s statement follows a letter from the civil rights community to Secretary DeVos calling for the full implementation of the Equity in IDEA regulation.

The Leadership Conference Education Fund builds public will for federal policies that promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. The Education Fund’s campaigns empower and mobilize advocates around the country to push for progressive change in the United States. It was founded in 1969 as the education and research arm of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. For more information on The Education Fund, visit http://leadershipconferenceedfund.org/.