Truthout

A letter to Congress, signed by 15 disability rights groups, made clear that removing federal oversight of critical civil rights laws like IDEA “leaves students vulnerable to the variation in state implementation and threatens to bring us back to a time when many students with disabilities were denied an education.” 

Denise Marshall is CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA), an organizational signatory of the letter. Marshall told  Truthout that COPAA and the National Center for Youth Law have filed a federal lawsuit to restore OCR’s investigative functions. “OCR has investigated a lot of egregious situations for kids who’ve been restrained, isolated, or forced out of school,” Marshall said. “This administration does not hide its hostility to people of color, people with gender identities that it doesn’t like, and the disabled. In many cases, people who’d filed complaints with OCR have discovered that investigations have been halted. It’s why we filed a lawsuit. OCR had been investigating cases and holding districts accountable.”