fedsdc CONDEMNS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S DISCIPLINE GUIDANCE AS Deeply Racist ...
RESEARCH, FACTS, & DEBUNKING FALSE CLAIMS!
Although the Trump discipline guidance claims that previous guidance required schools and districts to “engage in unlawful racial balancing to comply with federal civil rights law,”[i] it provides no data that such a reaction is actually occurring in educational institutions. Indeed, it admits that the guidance of previous administrations “did not expressly require any school to impose a strict racial quota in suspensions.”
[i] USDOE Press release
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Rejection of Research. x The guidance rejects 20 years of research!
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Equity. x affirms that our society spent too long trying to keep certain groups down, and we ought to set that right.
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Disparate Impact. x Without disparate-impact analysis, students of color lose a key protection against policies that may look neutral but consistently push them out of class and into the criminal legal system.
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Alternatives are Not Violence Inducing. x Peer-reviewed research consistently shows that alternatives to suspension and expulsion such as positive behavior supports and restorative practices lead to improvements in student behavior,[i] academic achievement[ii] and school climate.
Introduction
FedSDC strongly condemns the attempt by the Department of Education in its August 18, 2026 Dear Colleague Letter and Press Release to replace proven effective practice with a return to harsh and discriminatory punishment and exclusion. The Guidance provided by the Dear Colleague Letter is remarkably free of evidence, relying instead on overheated rhetoric, misrepresentations of previous research and practice, and patently untrue assertions with no factual basis. It is simply an extension of the discriminatory and misguided attempts by the Trump Administration to shut down avenues of equality and civil rights long guaranteed in our nation by the Fourteenth Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
We are urging Education Superintendents, Commissioners, Administrators, Educators, and Board of Education Members to understand, regardless of its weakening, the mandates of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 still exist and still require the Department of Education and the Federal government to identify and correct racial discrimination in education.
FedSDC remains committed to ensuring the educational rights of historically marginalized students, youth, and children are unscathed by political threats and violence. We also want to ensure that all students have the right to learn without the interference of political ideology or unsubstantiated claims that undermine the value of an equitable education.
