Donald Trump’s decision to close and tear down the Department of Education has real consequences for kids, families, and communities. When an act of violence, harassment, or discrimination occurs against a student, the student or the family can file a complaint with the Department of Education, which is supposed to investigate the complaint and resolve the issue.
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For example, if a school is discriminating against a student with a disability, that is not a crime, but it is a violation of federal law, which is normally when the Department of Education would get involved.
Parents and students are filing complaints about sexual harassment, sexual assault, violence, and discrimination, and the Trump administration is doing nothing.
According to a new report released by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who serves as the Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, the Trump administration has stopped enforcing federal laws that protect students.
The report found:
Since taking office, President Trump has repeatedly ordered the illegal dismantling of the Department of Education, with devastating consequences for students, schools, colleges, and universities across the country. But nowhere have those consequences been clearer than at the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the federal law enforcement agency charged with vigorously protecting students from discrimination.
In March 2025, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon fired 299 out of 575 OCR staff and shuttered 7 of 12 regional civil rights offices. When courts intervened and forced the administration to rescind those firings, McMahon relented—but the damage was done. OCR has never recovered and thousands of students who were discriminated against have been left without help, without answers, and without justice.
Make no mistake about what OCR does and why it matters. When a child with a disability is denied the education they are legally entitled to, they call OCR. When a child is sexually harassed at school and the school does nothing, they call OCR. When a student is subjected to racial harassment, antisemitism, Islamophobia, or other shared ancestry discrimination, they call OCR.
OCR exists because Congress decided decades ago that the federal government has an obligation to protect the civil rights of every student in America. This is a promise to the 65.3 million students enrolled in schools, colleges, and universities across the country.
The people who have been left unprotected are, in many cases, children, and as we will see below, the results of what the Trump administration is doing are devastating.