Civil Groups Attempt to Stop DeVos from Rescinding Obama Education Rules

Several civil rights groups are attempting to stop Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from rolling back an Obama-era rule on school discipline that protects black students from being punished more severely than their white peers.

According to The Washington Post, DeVos met with education advocates on the left and right last week to talk about the joint guidance the Education and Justice departments issued in 2014 to help schools avoid policies that discriminate, even unintentionally, against black students.

However. several Republicans and conservatives have criticized that the guidance has made schools less safe and contributed to the deadly Parkland, Florida high school shooting in February.

The civil groups argue that the administration is using the shooting as an excuse to roll back critical guidance that helps protect students from discrimination under federal civil rights laws.

“I think they are conflating the two,” stated the director of policy for the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Todd A. Cox. “And like the election integrity commission, which was designed to look for evidence of voter fraud that was nonexistent, they are using that horrible tragedy to attack the guidance.”

DeVos said at last week’s listening sessions that no decision has been made, but civil rights advocates aren’t buying it.

“I think it’s clear their intent is to pull the guidance,” said Brenda Shum, director of the Educational Opportunities Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, who attended the listening session.

DeVos in her first year managed to rescind another Obama-era guidance for colleges on handling sexual assaults. She also rolled back guidance that allowed transgender students to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

“We see the guidance and enforcement of Title VI as an outgrowth of the Brown v. Board of Education decision and inextricably linked to that legacy,” Cox said. “Any rollback to vigorous enforcement of Title VI or rollback of the guidance we see as an attack on the legacy of Brown.”