Overview:
The Education Department's rollback of Title VI disparate impact rules, meant to curb race-conscious school policies, has drawn condemnation from 60 civil rights groups who warn it will enable discrimination against students of color.
The U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday, July 23, that it is eliminating a set of long-standing “disparate impact” regulations, rules that have barred educational policies with unintentionally discriminatory effects on the basis of race, color, and national origin.
“A child is so much more than a number in a data set. The left’s notion of ‘equity’ should never prevent teachers from keeping their classrooms and students safe. With these changes, schools will be empowered to address classroom issues without fearing the federal government will weaponize antidiscrimination laws,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey. “These regulatory changes will help ensure fair enforcement of Title VI, as intended by Congress. The Trump Administration will always hold schools accountable for discrimination and ensure all students in America receive the equal educational opportunities and equal treatment to which they are entitled by law.”
Officials at the department argued the rules had gone too far, saying they had stopped schools from disciplining disruptive students who happened to belong to minority groups, and had instead pushed institutions toward race-conscious decision-making. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey framed the move as protecting classroom safety from what she called federal overreach tied to equity mandates.
Civil Rights Groups Push Back
In response, a coalition of 60 civil rights and education organizations — including the Legal Defense Fund, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the National Women’s Law Center, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), among others, released a joint statement condemning the rollback.
The coalition called the action “further evidence that this administration is determined to undermine our laws, abandon civil rights enforcement, and deny the existence of systemic discrimination.” They emphasized that courts have long recognized discrimination need not be explicit to be unlawful, and argued the disparate impact tool exists to eliminate unjustified barriers so all students have an equal opportunity to learn.
As examples, the groups pointed to school discipline and school closure policies that can appear race-neutral on their face while disproportionately harming Black, Native American, Latino, and Asian American and Pacific Islander students.
“Every student, no matter their background, has the right to pursue their education free from discrimination. Today’s action has no basis in law or morality and is further evidence that this administration is determined to undermine our laws, abandon civil rights enforcement, and deny the existence of systemic discrimination. For decades, courts have acknowledged that discrimination is not always explicit or overt. The disparate impact tool is designed to remove unjustified barriers in education and ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to learn and succeed,” read the statement released by the coalition. “Examples may include school discipline or school closure policies that appear neutral but unfairly and disproportionately harm or disadvantage Black and Native American students, as well as Latino and Asian American and Pacific Islander students, while ignoring alternatives that better serve all students. While undermining civil rights protections is never justified, the Department’s move to overhaul these anti-discrimination regulations without even providing the public with an opportunity to comment is indefensible.”
The organizations also faulted the department for procedural shortcuts, noting the regulations were overhauled without giving the public a chance to comment, a step they called indefensible. They warned the rescission would clear the way for discrimination that denies equal educational opportunity to students of color and other marginalized groups, and they called on the department to reinstate the disparate impact tool and fulfill its legal obligations under Title VI to prevent and address racial discrimination in schools.
Part of a Broader Pattern
Thursday’s action builds on an executive order President Trump signed in April 2025 directing federal agencies to stop enforcing disparate impact liability. It fits into the administration’s larger campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, which Trump has described as discriminatory against groups including white people and men. Civil rights advocates have repeatedly criticized these efforts as reversals of decades of progress for marginalized communities, including racial minorities, women, and LGBTQ Americans.
Legal Background
Disparate impact liability has its roots in the Supreme Court’s 1971 ruling in Griggs v. Duke Power Co., which held that ostensibly neutral employment practices could violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 if they disproportionately disadvantaged a protected group without a clear connection to job performance. Congress later codified that standard in the Civil Rights Act of 1991, a change credited with encouraging organizations to systematically evaluate how their policies affect protected groups — a practice now widespread across education and employment.
The dispute is likely to fuel continued legal and political battles over how civil rights protections are defined and enforced in American schools.
