April 16, 2025 Story by: Publisher
The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) filed a federal lawsuit on the behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s attempts to prohibit and chill lawful efforts to ensure that Black students are afforded equal educational opportunities.
The Education Department issued a “Dear Colleague” letter on Feb. 14, followed by a “Frequently Asked Questions” document on Feb. 28 and a certification requirement on April 3—all of which include factual inaccuracies and misinterpretations of civil rights laws and threaten the termination of critical public education funds.
“The Department of Education’s recent “Dear Colleague” letter and other communications are not only deeply misleading—they are a gross distortion of reality that attempts to erase the lived experiences of millions of black and brown children in this country.” Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP said.
The defendants named in the suit are the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor.
“The Department of Education, tasked with a responsibility to protect the civil rights of all children, has instead claimed systemic racism doesn’t exist—effectively sanctioning the very discrimination that our civil rights laws were designed to prevent, Johnson said. “Meanwhile, children of color consistently attend segregated, chronically underfunded schools where they receive less educational opportunities and more discipline. Denying these truths doesn’t make them disappear—it deepens the harm. We are asking the court to act swiftly to our request and will continue to advocate for students of color to be treated fairly and equitably.”
The lawsuit alleges that the Education Department’s communications to recipients of federal funds present a legally flawed and unsupported interpretation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“For decades, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has worked to ensure that all students—including Black students who have historically faced and continue to face barriers that deny them equal educational opportunities—can receive the necessary support, tools, and resources to thrive academically,” Michaele N. Turnage Young, Senior Counsel and Co-Manager of the Equal Protection Initiative at the Legal Defense Fund said.
The lawsuit additionally alleges that the Education Department is intentionally discriminating against Black students through its efforts to defund federal grantees based on erroneous facts and interpretations of law. The Dear Colleague Letter and related certification already have had devastating consequences for educational communities across the nation.
“Yet, in direct conflict with its mission, the Office for Civil Rights has baselessly characterized vital efforts to advance racial equality to themselves be racially discriminatory, thus weaponizing the anti-discrimination laws against the very communities they are meant to protect,” Young said. “These threats have incited a wave of chaos, uncertainty, and fear within our classrooms, cultural centers, and student and parent groups across the country, and run afoul of our nation’s ideals. We ask the Court to enjoin these actions by the Department of Education—and will continue to fight until the constitutional promise of racial equality in education, set forth in Brown v. Board of Education, has been fulfilled.”
The plaintiff is asking the federal district court to enjoin the Education Department from moving forward with its enforcement actions, as articulated in the “Dear Colleague” Letter and related certification requirement.
“Every student should have an equal opportunity to receive a quality education,” Katrina Feldkamp, Assistant Counsel at the Legal Defense Fund said. “The current Administration’s attacks are a threat to longstanding efforts to ensure truthful, inclusive curricula and instruction; equal access to selective programs; affinity groups where students of various identities can find support and belonging; and policies and programs that eradicate bias in discipline and hiring.
LDF’s filing today follows previous advocacy challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s recent efforts to dial back progress towards racial justice, including a letter signed by more than 60 civil rights organizations calling on the agency to rescind its harmful “Dear Colleague” letter and subsequent FAQ. LDF also led 40 civil rights organizations and education advocacy groups this week in sending letters to State Education Agencies regarding the recent Title VI certification request.
“These threats seek to undo decades of progress towards equality for all in public education. We proudly represent the NAACP, whose members include Black parents and students in every state of our nation, to protect and uphold Black students’ rights to equal educational opportunity,” Feldkamp concluded.
Read the full lawsuit.
Source: Legal Defense Fund
