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Civil rights investigations of NYC schools in limbo after federal education cuts
By
Jessica Gould
Published Apr 3, 2025
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U.S. Department of Education
By
Jessica Gould
Published Apr 3, 2025
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High-profile investigations into New York City’s dysfunctional school bus system, segregation in traditional public schools and charter school admissions practices are now stuck in limbo after the federal education department shuttered the local office of civil rights, attorneys said.
Last month, the federal education department slashed its workforce nearly 50% — down to 2,183 — as part of President Donald Trump’s orders to facilitate eliminating the federal agency entirely and returning power to the states. Cuts included the elimination of the New York City-based branch of the civil rights division, which investigates allegations of discrimination based on disability, race and gender.
The local office in a federal building on Foley Square oversaw cases involving some of the most urgent education issues in New York state.
“Without that office here in New York City right now, I don’t even know where [clients] should be sent to either follow up or file a complaint,” said Nelson Mar, senior staff attorney at Bronx Legal Services who represents multiple plaintiffs with pending civil rights complaints.
The Trump administration eliminated the staff at the New York City office and six others last month, consolidating the regional offices into outposts in Seattle, Denver, Kansas City, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.
Trump administration officials said in a statement that they aim to increase efficiency and expedite cases.
“To better serve American students and families, changes are being made as to how OCR [the Office for Civil Rights] will conduct its operations,” Madi Biedermann, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications at the federal education department, said in a statement. “We are confident that the dedicated staff of OCR will deliver on its statutory responsibilities.”
But in New York City, attorneys said they’re telling their clients to expect more delay, if their cases move forward at all. While the office handles cases based on race and sex discrimination, attorneys said the majority of plaintiffs tend to be students with disabilities seeking equal access to education.
Mar is among the attorneys representing 17 families who say the city’s bus system is failing to get students with disabilities to school on time. The group includes an 8-year-old with autism who allegedly could not attend school for weeks because a bus didn’t show up. With the closure of New York’s regional office, Mar said, it appears investigations on his pending cases have “come to a complete halt.”
“It’s even questionable at this point if there will ever be some finality to these investigations,” Mar said.
Courtney Yadoo, an attorney with New York Legal Assistance Group, which is also representing some of the plaintiffs in the school bus case, has another client with a complaint against a charter school, alleging the charter school denied the student admission once administrators learned of his learning disability.
Yadoo said she’s concerned about delays as well as a loss of specialized knowledge about New York City’s complex education landscape. “The New York OCR regional office did have expertise about the school districts in their jurisdiction,” she said.
The Office of Civil Rights was created as part of the federal education department in 1980 to investigate allegations of discrimination at schools and universities. The Office of Civil Rights maintained a central office in D.C. as well as 12 regional branches, and received more than 20,000 complaints last year.
Attorneys representing students with complaints before the Office of Civil Rights said it has been common for cases to stretch years, as investigators grappled with an onslaught of cases and a yawning backlog. And that was before the mass layoffs.
Now they are questioning how the Office of Civil Rights under the Trump administration could evaluate cases more quickly with far fewer employees.
“If you wanted to make this process better, you would put more resources into it,” not less, said Johnathan Smith, general counsel and chief of staff at the National Center for Youth Law.
The National Center for Youth Law filed a lawsuit challenging the closure of the regional civil rights offices, arguing that the cuts are actually discriminatory themselves because they “disproportionately harm students of color, women and girls, and LGBTQI+ students” who are seeking redress through the civil rights offices. Trump’s elimination of the education department also faces legal challenges.
Smith said he worries the Trump administration plans to only advance discrimination complaints that align with its priorities cracking down on antisemitism and trans kids in sports.
“They’re not only destroying the process, they’re putting their thumb on the scale,” he said.
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new york city
education
Jessica Gould
Jessica is the education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jessica reported on the shutdown and reopening of the nation’s largest school system, highlighting the unprecedented impacts on learning, health and mental health for students, staff and families. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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