On March 13, 2025, Parents Defending Education wrote to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon asking the Department to rescind a joint “Dear Colleague” letter on school discipline issued in May 2023. The letter was released by the Departments of Education and Justice under the Biden administration. PDE argues that the letter goes beyond the Departments’ power under Title VI, the federal law that bans race discrimination in programs that receive federal funds, is likely unconstitutional, and is harming students and teachers alike.
Even though the Supreme Court has held that unequal outcomes alone cannot prove a Title VI violation, the 2023 letter treats racial differences in discipline outcomes as evidence of discrimination — even when a school’s rules are race-neutral. It also threatens to cut funding to school districts that do not change their practices to eliminate those differences. This position goes “well beyond [the] purpose” of Title VI and is no different from the Obama-era policy the Department rejected during President Trump’s first term. The letter also pressures schools to violate the Equal Protection Clause by adopting rules that, according to the Seventh Circuit, require “systematically overpunishing the innocent or systematically underpunishing the guilty” based on race.
This race-based approach undermines teachers’ authority when they need it most. There were at least 857,500 violent incidents in public schools in the 2021-22 school year, and a 2024 American Psychological Association report described “school violence” as an epidemic, with nearly 80% of teachers surveyed agreeing that misconduct is becoming more common. PDE believes teachers and principals at the local level are best placed to handle discipline, and that every student is a unique individual who should be treated as such, no matter his or her race.
Read the full letter below:
