The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) today announced the launch of an investigation into the Green Bay Area Public School District. The probe will examine allegations of discrimination based on both race and disability, following a complaint that the district prioritized special education services for students of certain racial groups, potentially denying timely and adequate support to others.
The complaint, filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), centers on the experience of an elementary school student with dyslexia. WILL alleges that the district’s policies created racial “priority groups,” and because the student in question is white, he was not included in these groups and therefore faced delays and deficiencies in receiving necessary special education services.
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“In America, we do not ‘prioritize’ students for educational access, nor do we judge their worth, on the basis of skin color,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. “Schools must provide special needs students access to supportive educational resources on an equal footing and on the basis of need, not on the basis of race.”
He emphasized the Department’s rejection of “benign” discrimination and pledged a vigorous investigation to ensure the district is not discriminating on the basis of race or disability.
According to WILL, the Green Bay Area Public School District’s policy allegedly involves “intentional work educating our focus students, prioritizing additional resources to First Nations, Black, and Hispanic students.”
The complaint further details that when the mother of the dyslexic student advocated for appropriate reading interventions over several months, the school principal reportedly indicated an obligation to serve priority racial groups first, citing a district spreadsheet color-coded by race to track service provision to these groups.
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“It is heartbreaking to think that, in America, a school would consider whether or not to provide services to a disabled student based not on that student’s need, but on the color of his skin,” said Cory Brewer, Education Counsel at WILL. “This is not only unlawful – it is an affront to the character of the American people.”
The investigation will fall under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in federally funded education programs. Additionally, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability by recipients of federal financial assistance.
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