Issue joint ED-DOJ guidance ending disparate-impact Title VI cases

Partially done

Printed page 335 11. Department of Education

“As part of this effort, the new Administration should also direct the department and DOJ jointly to issue enforcement guidance stating that the agencies will no longer investigate Title VI cases that exclusively rest on allegations of disparate impact.”

What has happened

Aug 18, 2026 Partially done
The guidance arrived sixteen months late and it is not joint: the Dear Colleague Letter "Guidance on Pupil Discipline and Compliance with Title VI" is signed by the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights alone and says the Department "adopts this guidance independently of" both orders. Its substance is what the Quote asks for - Title VI and the Constitution "prohibit intentional discrimination, not unintentional disparate impact" - and the Department's own rule of 2026-07-24 states that it "will not pursue Title VI disparate-impact liability against its Federal funding recipients". DOJ delivered its half separately, by amending its own Title VI regulations in December 2025.
- OCR Dear Colleague Letter: Guidance on Pupil Discipline and Compliance with Title VI (August 18, 2026)
  Primary Executive branch Aug 18, 2026
- ED press release: Department Directs Schools to Stop Racial Balancing in Student Discipline Policies
  Primary Executive branch Aug 18, 2026
- ED final rule: Rescinding Portions of the Department of Education Title VI Regulations To Align With the Statutory Text and Conform to Executive Order 14281
  Primary Executive branch Jul 24, 2026
Apr 23, 2025 Attempted
Executive Order 14280 sec. 3(a) directed the Secretary of Education, within 30 days and "in consultation with the Attorney General", to issue new guidance to state and local educational agencies on their Title VI obligations, and Executive Order 14281 sec. 4 told every agency to deprioritize enforcement of statutes and regulations that include disparate-impact liability.
- Executive Order 14280 - Reinstating Commonsense School Discipline Policies
  Primary Executive branch Apr 23, 2025
- Executive Order 14281 - Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy
  Primary Executive branch Apr 23, 2025

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

The 2014 letter the Mandate is reacting to was issued jointly by ED and DOJ; its replacement was not. Leveled partial: the enforcement position is stated by both departments, in two separate instruments, and neither says in terms that the agencies “will no longer investigate Title VI cases that exclusively rest on allegations of disparate impact”.

Action: issue
Object: Joint ED-DOJ Title VI enforcement guidance
ID: 845