With half the staff fired at the U.S. Department of Education this week there are growing concerns about the effects of those cuts. That includes less oversight to ensure Texas and its school districts comply with laws on special education. As Texas Public Radio reports, Texas has a history of inadequate special education services. In 2018, federal investigators with the department found that Texas violated federal law by placing a cap on special education enrollment.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has nearly 1,200 open investigations into complaints of discrimination at Texas schools and colleges. But now there will be fewer federal investigators to respond to those complaints. Multiple news outlets report that over half of the Office of Civil Rights’ regional offices will be closed, including the one in Dallas responsible for all of Texas.
Even before the layoffs, NPR reported there weren’t enough employees to investigate a national backlog of disability complaints, forcing families to wait for help.
