How dismantling the U.S. Department of Education will impact Tennessee’s most vulnerable students

As efforts to shutter the U.S. Department of Education ramp up, advocates have grown increasingly concerned about how cases of discrimination in schools will be handled. They warn that Tennessee’s most vulnerable students will be the most impacted.

The Office for Civil Rights is the Department of Education’s enforcement arm –investigating cases of students facing discrimination due to their race, disability, sex, religion and more. But investigations have slowed in recent months.

Juliana Potash, senior manager of advocacy and engagement at Education Trust in Tennessee told WPLN News that the slowdown in response threatens the protection of students’ civil rights.

“There are current cases that are not gonna get processed and cases in the future that won’t be taken up,” she said, “Which will result in active harm for our students and particularly our most vulnerable students.”

Acts of discrimination may be interpreted, according to Potash. She said that the Trump administration made schools promise to end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs or lose federal funding. Metro Nashville Public Schools has recently removed many references to DEI.

“It sparks fear and anxiety for school and district leaders who will likely in many places start to over-comply and cut things, like programs, staff positions, trainings or professional development,” she said.

Although it takes an act of Congress to dismantle the Department of Education, the Trump administration has drastically cut its workforce, which Potash said is weakening its efficiency. At least 240 employees from the Office for Civil Rights have been laid off, many being attorneys who investigate complaints from parents saying a school discriminated against their child.

Potash said this makes her job  more difficult. Advocacy organizations rely heavily on data from the Department of Education to make informed policy recommendations, compare how Tennessee schools are faring compared to neighboring states, or monitor how the state’s rural students are doing compared to those in urban or suburban areas.

‘Playing with people’s lives’

Data from the Office for Civil Rights show that disability discrimination has consistently made up the largest share of complaints about treatment in schools and universities. Lydia Burris, the education rights program manager at the Nashville Defenders office told WPLN News that students turn to the Office for Civil Rights when schools fail to protect them from discrimination and harassment.

“What happens to the families who have already fought at their local school, at their district and have not gotten the protection that their child is entitled to and needs to be safe?” she asked.

Burris said 12% of students in Tennessee have an Individualized Education Program, which is available for children who qualify for special education services.

“That’s a huge number of kids and a huge numbers of school administrators, school staff, special educators who are thinking how are we going to serve our kids?” Burris said. “We’re playing with people’s lives.”

Tennessee lawmakers have said the state is prepared to serve its students if the Department of Education is dismantled. But both she and Potash worry about having to rely exclusively on states to enforce civil rights complaints. They say results will vary from state to state and county to county.

“We are risking moving backwards,” said Potash. “Losing progress that has been made over the past few decades.”