What’s next for civil rights enforcement in Pennsylvania schools?

When Norwin School District, about 40 minutes east of Pittsburgh, signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in September 2024, the district agreed to take several actions to fix what the department called a “racially hostile environment” for students of color.

An OCR investigation found that district officials had failed to address multiple incidents of racial harassment, violating students’ right to a public education free from discrimination.

Once federal education officials and school districts reach an agreement, their cases move into monitoring and enforcement. Norwin’s agreement came with a list of reports and proposals that must be approved by OCR before school leaders could move forward, and deadlines that extended well into the 2025-2026 school year.

But Norwin solicitor Russell Lucas told WESA that, since January 2025, all emails to OCR have been met with bounce-back messages and no actual response. A school climate survey that the district was required to draft was never approved, and therefore the district did not administer the survey.

Given the rapid dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education over the past year, State Sen. Lindsey Williams says it’s unlikely anyone is monitoring or enforcing Norwin’s progress.

Norwin’s case was among the last racial harassment cases resolved by OCR before the latest Trump administration began steps to dismantle the federal Department of Education and its civil rights office.

“Right now, I would say there’s not much enforcement at all, if any, and right now, there’s no state mechanism to enforce federal OCR complaints,” said Williams, who is drafting a bill that would shift enforcement responsibilities to Pennsylvania’s Department of Education.

“It’s a bit unique because we’ve never had to do it before,” Williams continued. “But I think it’s very important because, otherwise, a right without enforcement isn’t a right.”

Last March, the Trump administration put nearly half of all U.S. Department of Education staff on administrative leave. About half of OCR’s 575 employees were removed from their jobs through December, and officials closed seven of OCR’s 12 regional offices, including one in Philadelphia that investigated discrimination cases in Pennsylvania and neighboring states.

While the OCR layoffs were rescinded late last year, many employees have since moved on to other work outside the public sector. The U.S. Department of Education did not respond to WESA’s request for comment for this story.

Beth Gellman-Beer, who ran the Philadelphia bureau until its closure, said the office’s 1,000 open cases were transferred to staff in Atlanta.

With case files thousands of pages long and new discrimination complaints piling up, Gellman-Beer said agreements being monitored by OCR, such as the one with Norwin School District, were “likely going to fall to the bottom of the pile.”

She said it’s now incumbent on states to fill the gap.

“That’s the whole point in this administration closing the Department of Education — or wanting to — and saying that it’s on the states now,” Gellman-Beer said. “Well, if that’s true, then it’s on the states now.”

Several states are now moving to create state-level agencies to enforce local and national civil rights laws, although Gellman-Beer said that’s a patchwork solution.

“The problem is now it’s going to be contingent on your zip code, because some states don’t have an interest, or don’t have the resources or funding, or the legislature can’t come to an agreement,” she added.

The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) enforces the state’s Human Relations Act, which prohibits discrimination in schools based on race, color, ancestry, disability, religion, national origin, family status, and sex, including gender identity and sexual orientation.

Families can file education-related complaints with the PHRC, and the commission published new guidance last August outlining how it evaluates harassment and bullying cases.

In the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, systemic patterns of discrimination in schools may also be prosecuted by the agency’s civil rights enforcement division.

And the state Department of Education (PDE) already has a dispute resolution office dealing with issues involving the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, housed within its Bureau of Special Education.

Williams said her legislation would build upon that foundation by creating a new office within PDE to enforce federal civil rights laws. Embedding the office inside the department, she said, would ensure experts are on hand to address the unique challenges school settings pose.

“ For instance, if you have a sexual harassment case, you have two students who are in the same school, who are in the same classroom,” she explained. “So you’re trying to navigate who’s in what, where do they go? What happens after a complaint is filed? How do you protect the victim? You have special education concerns.

“These are very nuanced things that deserve a special remedy and expertise.”

But when asked about Williams’ bill, a spokesperson for the Department pointed WESA to the PHRC. Chad Dion Lassiter, executive director of the PHRC, said his commission is prepared to take on civil rights investigation, enforcement and monitoring.

PHRC is in the process of hiring eight new civil rights investigators, according to Lassiter. Any expanded civil rights enforcement, he added, should sit under the PHRC.

Lassiter suggests hiring three educational investigators to address complaints in the commission’s Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Philadelphia offices.

“If we were to get three additional positions, we could take on some of the work that was lost with OCR,” Lassiter said.

The commission has been monitoring discipline and achievement gaps at Pittsburgh Public Schools ever since parents with Advocates for African American Students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools filed a complaint in 1992 alleging that the district violated the state’s human relations act.

The commission also entered into an agreement with Reading School District in 2012 to address discrimination complaints in the majority-Latino school system. Officials announced in 2020 that the district had met all of the terms of the settlement.

“The state has always been part and partial to looking at and investigating civil rights complaints along the indices of education,” Lassiter said.

Even with state agencies taking on some federal enforcement responsibilities, Lassiter said the U.S. Department of Education should still have some oversight. The commission does not investigate federal complaints unless the complainant also files with the PHRC.

The commission can bring schools that ultimately do not comply with its orders to court. But Williams argues that a single court order isn’t always what’s most appropriate.

“With a school district, it’s an ongoing thing and it might take years to correct,” Williams said. “We’re talking about staffing up their special education department, bringing in more staff to serve students and addressing class size issues.

“These are not overnight remedies.”