DENVER — The Trump administration's initiative to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education has raised alarm bells regarding civil rights enforcement across the country. As part of an executive order last month, the White House closed seven of the Department of Education's 12 Civil Rights offices. The Denver office has taken on the caseloads previously managed by closed offices in Chicago and Cleveland.
Emily Harvey, the co-legal director of Colorado Disability Law, highlighted the impact of these changes. Staff at the Denver office went from 36 employees in December to 24 currently, while the office's caseload surged from 628 open investigations in January to 2,837 cases currently.
These complaints often involve issues such as bullying and harassment of students with disabilities, physical accessibility challenges, proper use of service animals in schools, and retaliation against advocates for students with disabilities.
"It's hard to imagine that many complaints are going to get fully investigated going forward, especially with only 24 staff members responsible for over 2,800 cases," Harvey said.
In response to these challenges, Harvey is set to testify before the Colorado State Senate Education Committee Wednesday. She plans to address the impacts of federal funding cuts and argue for the adoption of a state-level civil rights law for students with disabilities.
Currently, Colorado's jurisdiction is limited. For example a bullying complaint cannot be filed with the Colorado Department of Education due to a lack of legal authority in that domain.
"It’s not going to be an easy lift. We’ll need to engage multiple stakeholders and review the federal regulations to see how we can effectively create state laws," Harvey said. "We also need to determine the best state agency for handling these violations."
Disability Law Colorado’s ultimate goal is to introduce a civil rights bill during next year's legislative session.
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