The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Volume 1 Number 4

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ENFORCEMENT FOUND LAX

The House Committee on Government Operations on December 30, 1985 issued a report leveling withering criticism against the civil rights performance of the Department of Education. The report was approved by 28 members of the 39 member committee, including four Republicans, among them Frank Horton (R -NY),the ranking Republican member of the committee. Eleven members, all Republicans, issued separate views saying that the majority was overly critical and did not take due account of the difficulties of OCR's task and some of its achievements.

To the extent that the Committee's investigation and oversight hearings can assist . OCR in the pursuit of its mission in the future, we can be supportive. However, in the case of this report, the Committee has gone to great lengths to paint a very bleak picture of enforcement activity at OCR ... [N]oticeably absent from the report is any mention of the improved performance record OCR has achieved in recent years...

The report was based on investigatory hearings held by the House Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations and Human Resources, and a review of more than 75 cases investigated by OCR which involve race, sex, and handicap discrimination.

Background

OCR has responsibility for enforcement of federal statutes which prohibit discrimination in all education programs and activities which receive federal funds: Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (race, color, national origin), Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (sex), Section 5011 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (handicap), and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975. These laws cover all State Education Agencies, 15,480 school districts, 3,3300 colleges and universities, 10,000 proprietary institutions as well as institutions such as libraries and museums (see Committee Report).

OCR investigates charges of discrimination when individuals or groups file complaints with the Department. In Fiscal Year 1984, 1,928 such complaints were filed with OCR. OCR also initiates compliance reviews based upon information gained from surveys OCR conducts. Since 1966 OCR has collected public school enrollment data by race, and more recently by sex, disability and English language proficiency, through the Elementary and Secondary School Civil Rights Survey. In Fiscal Year 1984, 212 compliance reviews were conducted.

OCR must conduct its investigations within certain timeframes and follow procedures mandated by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in the ongoing Adams case. Initiated by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1970 to compel enforcement of Title VI, Adams now includes Title IX and Section 504. On March 11, 1983, the latest order in the case was issued strengthening the procedural and timeframe requirements. The Federal Government is seeking dismissal of the case, arguing in part that plaintiffs do not even have standing to challenge defendants' abdication of their civil rights enforcement responsibility. Standing is the legal requirement that a plaintiff suing must show that (s)he has sustained or is in immediate danger of sustaining a direct injury or harm to his or her interest.

When OCR determines that a violation of a civil rights law has occurred, it can seek to cutoff federal funds to the offending institution by bringing the case before an administrative law judge or it can refer the case to the Department of Justice to file suit against the institution.