Arne Duncan: Georgia students need federal civil rights protections

Arne Duncan, former education secretary under President Obama, warns that a rollback of civil rights protections for students by the U.S. Department of Education could hurt Georgia kids.

Under his leadership, the ED’s Office of Civil Rights investigated several cases in Georgia, including discrimination in the recruitment and hiring of black teachers in one district and the harassment of a student who wore a hijab in another. Nationwide, the OCR shined a light about discipline practices that targeted minority students.

Writing today in the AJC Get Schooled blog, Duncan says, “Leaving enforcement of civil rights laws to states will breed chaos, undermine the education of millions of children, and subject students of every age to abuse, neglect, indifference and outright racism, sexism, and anti-immigrant hostility. The Trump administration has no authority to simply abdicate responsibility to enforce civil rights laws.”