Casten, Moore, Beyer, Hayes Demand Department of Education Restore Office for Civil Rights
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Representatives Sean Casten (IL-06), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Don Beyer (VA-08), and Jahana Hayes (CT-05) led 39 House Democrats in a letter to Department of Education (DOE) Secretary Lisa McMahon demanding DOE immediately restore shuttered Office for Civil Rights (OCR) hubs and fulfill its statutory civil rights mandate.
“While slashing the Department’s workforce has impacted every aspect of the Department’s role, OCR was particularly hard hit,” the lawmakers wrote. “At the time of these terminations, OCR had 550 employees, at least 243 of whom have reportedly been put on administrative leave or terminated. These terminations, and the shuttering of offices across the country, will make the Department less able to protect vulnerable students against harassment and civil rights violations.”
The OCR is the core federal body that protects students' right to equal access to education. OCR lawyers and staff are responsible for investigating complaints of discrimination brought by students when they are discriminated against by schools based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, and age. They also develop regulations and policy guidance to support these protections and provide technical assistance to schools attempting to protect their students’ rights. OCR administers the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), a biennial survey of early education and K-12 local education agencies and schools on enforcing civil rights protections in their districts.
In March, reports indicate DOE enacted significant staffing cuts to OCR, and closed OCR hubs in Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
In addition to Reps. Casten, Moore, Beyer, and Hayes, the letter was signed by Barragan, Cherfilus-McCormick, Chu, Clarke, Danny Davis, Espaillat, Evans, Friedman, Goldman, Huffman, Ivey, Jonathan Jackson, Julie Johnson, Keating, Krishnamoorthi, Landsman, Lynch, Mannion, McCollum, Meng, Moulton, Nadler, Panetta, Peters, Pocan, Ramirez, Ruiz, Sanchez, Schakowsky, Simon, Tlaib, Torres, Vargas, Veasey, and Williams.
A copy of the letter can be found here. Text of the letter can be found below.
Dear Secretary McMahon:
The staffing cuts to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Education and the closure of OCR hubs in Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, clearly compromise the Department’s ability to fulfill its statutory civil rights mandate. We demand an immediate restoration of these staff and offices to fulfill the Department’s congressionally directed responsibilities.
The Department of Education was established with the express purpose to strengthen the Federal commitment to ensuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual, as well as to increase the accountability of Federal education programs to the President, the Congress, and the public. The Office for Civil rights was explicitly established within the Department to ensure that all schools receiving federal funds abide by federal civil rights laws.
The OCR, established by the Department of Education Organization Act in 1979, provides an invaluable service to students nationwide, protecting their equal access to education. OCR lawyers and staff are responsible for investigating complaints of discrimination brought by students, when they are discriminated against by schools based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, and age. They also develop regulations and policy guidance to support these protections and provide technical assistance to schools attempting to protect their students’ rights.
OCR also administers the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), a biennial survey of early education and K-12 local education agencies and schools on enforcing civil rights protections in their districts. The data collected through the CRDC informs the investigation and enforcement work OCR conducts when it receives specific complaints from students and the regulations and guidance that the Department of Education promulgates. This data is critical to help the Department of Education and lawmakers understand trends in discrimination and school climate.
No student should be unsafe in school and OCR is a key component of keeping our students safe.
OCR provides a crucial safeguard when state and local education agencies are unable or unwilling to protect their students, and robust funding for their work is more critical than ever. In 2023 OCR received over 19,000 individual complaints from students who alleged discriminatory treatment by their publicly funded schools.
This broke the 2022 record and is more than double the number of complaints received in 2021. Eliminating staffing and closing the hubs flies in that face of the transparently increasing demand.
Despite the increasing number of complaints, OCR was already underfunded and understaffed and closing these regional offices will worsen the situation and further jeopardize the office’s vital work. As of 2023, OCR had eighteen percent fewer staff than in 2016, and OCR was recently further diminished by the widespread layoffs that hit the Department in March 2025. While slashing the Department’s workforce has impacted every aspect of the Department’s role, OCR was particularly hard hit. At the time of these terminations, OCR had 550 employees, at least 243 of whom have reportedly been put on administrative leave or terminated. These terminations, and the shuttering of offices across the country, will make the Department less able to protect vulnerable students against harassment and civil rights violations.
After meeting with House Members who expressed concern with the unlawful dismantling of the Department of Education, you tweeted, “[our] collective goal should be to support students, not the broken bureaucracy.” OCR’s role is to do just that – guaranteeing students equal access to education, but firing these staff just contributes to broken bureaucracy. The legacy of Ruby Bridges demands that we have a successful and robustly staffed OCR.
To better understand the Trump Administration's plans regarding the Department of Education, please respond to the following questions:
- Please describe in detail how the proposed OCR hub closures and staffing reductions will improve its authorized and funded activities, and how it will enhance the educational climate and well-being of students across the country.
- What impact, if any, does the Administration estimate these closures and terminations will have on the number, type, depth, or length of investigations at the Office of Civil Rights? How did you arrive at these estimates?
- How were the Office for Civil Rights offices in Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco chosen for closure? How did the Department assess the impact of these office closures on the work of the Office of Civil Rights prior to initiating these terminations?
- Please provide a justification for whether or not these closures include any reprogramming or transfer of funds.
- How will these office closures impact the process by which students, families, and teachers report allegations of civil rights violations in schools? How will any new processes be communicated to these groups?
We are deeply concerned that these actions are a de facto violation of the Department’s legislative mandate, urge you to reemploy OCR staff and reopen essential OCR regional offices nationwide. We look forward to your prompt response.
Sincerely,
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