Civil Rights

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights released a revised Case Processing Manual (CPM) on November 19, 2018. The CPM sets forth the procedures OCR uses with respect to investigations into violations of the civil rights laws that OCR enforces. Among the key changes are a reversal of March 2018 policies that (1) eliminated appeals from rulings of insufficient evidence that a violation occurred and (2) allowed OCR to dismiss cases deemed an “unreasonable burden” on OCR resources. Schools should carefully consider these and other important changes to the CPM when responding to OCR complaints. Read about these changes as well as others by downloading the revised CPM.