The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has rescinded its 1979 Guidelines for Eliminating Discrimination and Denial of Services in Vocational Education Programs, which established compliance and monitoring requirements for federally funded vocational education programs. To justify the move, ED stated that the Guidelines are outdated and argued that they impose administrative and reporting requirements on state education agencies, school districts, and colleges that are not required by other federally funded programs. According to ED, subsequent guidance issued jointly by the Office for Civil Rights and the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education in 2020 remains in place, and that rescission does not alter recipients' underlying obligations to comply with federal civil rights laws. To notify states, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly M. Richey issued a Dear Colleague letter.