A new academic year always brings new compliance challenges, but this one feels different. Federal agencies continue to reshape their priorities, the courts are as active as ever, and schools, districts, and institutions are navigating a legal and regulatory environment that keeps shifting. We spent a good chunk of our Back-to-School Compliance Webinar walking through […]
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education’s 2026 Unified Agenda was formally published in the Federal Register, prompting discussion throughout the education compliance community about what may be coming next for Title IX, Title VI, Clery, and other civil rights regulations. Before diving into the individual items, it’s worth answering a simple question: What […]
Last month, the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced investigations into five medical schools for alleged racial discrimination in admissions. Admissions-focused investigations are nothing new for OCR. These five are different because of how they were opened: jointly, with two other federal agencies involved from the start. OCR conducted this […]
On August 3, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon issued a National Call to Action letter to every college and university president and governing board in the country, asking them to publish, by the end of 2026, a public statement describing their commitment to reforms the ED believes would help to restore public trust in […]
On June 30, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced that it is partnering with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to protect parental rights in Kansas City, Kansas by jointly enforcing the ED’s April 2026 finding that Kansas City, Kansas Public School District (District) violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) by […]
Last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced a change to how it enforces one of the country’s oldest civil rights laws. The Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published a final rule rescinding several disparate-impact provisions from its Title VI regulations, the part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits discrimination based […]
An OCR Reminder: Schools Still Cannot Rely on Law Enforcement Alone Over the past several months, much of the conversation surrounding the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has focused on athletics, parental rights, antisemitism, gender identity, and, more recently, Immediate Action Agreements (IAAs). Those topics have understandably dominated the civil rights […]
The Supreme Court Is Deciding Fewer Cases But Its Influence Continues to Grow Last week, we discussed the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. B.P.J. and what it means for Title IX and transgender participation in athletics. This week, we want to step back from any single opinion and look at a broader shift […]
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded its October 2025 Term, issuing several decisions that will shape the legal landscape for schools, colleges, and universities. While not every case directly involved education, many addressed issues that influence civil rights enforcement, federal authority, and institutional compliance. Over the next two weeks, we’ll highlight several of the […]
OCR recently released several disability-related resolutions that give a useful window into where the agency is focusing its attention under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The cases came out of very different settings, from a high school honors decision to a field trip and an […]
