On May 16, 2022, Parents Defending Education filed a complaint against Manhattan Beach Unified School District in California with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The complaint asked OCR to look into possible violations of Title VI, a law that bans race discrimination in programs that receive federal funds, and the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, which bars government bodies, including public schools, from treating people differently because of their race except in rare cases.
In February 2021, the school board approved $24,000 for an “equity audit” by the Center for Leadership, Equity, and Research. The August 2021 report found gaps by race and other groups in attendance, suspensions, college readiness, and math. It said the district had a culture “in which marginalized or minority groups have been implicitly excluded from opportunities,” and that “[t]he way in which a teacher interacts with students is often based on bias.”
In other words, the district’s own audit suggests that some students may be facing ongoing discrimination. If that is true, the district may be breaking federal civil rights law.
Defending Education urges the Department to investigate every claim in its complaint, fix any illegal policies and practices, and order the right remedies.
Read the full complaint and see its evidence below:
