Students’ Rights, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the Impact of Federal Cuts

GeDá Jones Herbert is a nationally recognized education and civil rights attorney, specializing in school desegregation and ensuring publicly-funded schools comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She currently serves as Chief Legal Counsel for Brown’s Promise, a nonprofit organization that focuses on research, advocacy and litigation to ensure that public schools are racially, ethnically, culturally, and economically diverse. We recorded this interview on October 23, 2025. It has been abridged and edited for clarity.

Let’s start with the most obvious questions: What is Title VI of the Civil Rights Act? Why is it important? And why should we be paying attention to this space right now?

Many Americans do not know about the Civil Rights Act and most don’t understand what it actually protects. They also don't understand how broadly it is applied and what recourse has been available. And I'm using that past tense because unfortunately, some of these recourse methods are available now in name, but not in practicality.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 came into being following the Civil Rights Movement, post Brown versus Board of Education and massive resistance throughout the country….. The teeth of the act, including Title VI and the protections that it offered, was to allow the government to intervene on behalf of marginalized citizens.

Before the Civil Rights Act and Title VI specifically, individuals could bring a complaint or a lawsuit when their rights were being infringed upon, particularly related to race, color or national origin. But that meant that every single individual whose rights were being violated would have to find an attorney, have the means to bring a lawsuit, and work through the legal system, which is a very long, expensive and taxing process. Title VI allowed the federal government to intervene and represent these marginalized folks broadly. It moved the burden from individuals to the federal government protecting the rights that we are all entitled to.

I think it's really important to understand the why, so that we can understand the harms that are happening right now. The federal government realized that people needed help, that states were not complying with the Constitution, and that it was too much of a burden to put on every single individual whose rights are being violated and rather that our government should intervene. ….

Title VI says that nobody can be discriminated against within the United States based on race, color or national origin, especially in public entities that receive federal dollars. And so while the federal government may not be able to regulate every single entity, what it can do is tie its funding to those requirements. Those protections extend to religious discrimination and extend to discrimination for English language learners. The Supreme Court has also found that those with limited English proficiency also deserve the same civil rights protections and should not be discriminated against, again, based on their national origin, which may be a limiting factor in their ability to be able to speak and learn in English.

What does that mean for public schools, specifically?

This goes back to the breadth of the law. Basically any program or activity within a federally funded entity is covered by Title VI. And so that includes not just academic programs, admissions for college, housing, employment, it also impacts teachers, as well as extracurricular activities, access to counseling services, career and technical opportunities, recruitment of students; any program or sub program from a federally funded entity is covered by Title VI, again, not just for students, but for teachers as well.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration made their intent to close the US Department of Education (ED) clear. The administration has started breaking down the functions of ED by starving it of staff and funding. So for civil rights enforcement, particularly, for the Office for Civil Rights, what does this mean?

If there is a Title VI violation, the process typically is any person (not just the person who's been harmed, but any person who witnesses the violation or is aware of it), can file a Title VI complaint with the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education. When ED would get that complaint, they are to acknowledge the receipt of it and review it and determine if that is a complaint that they will investigate. If they determine to move forward, they will notify a school or district. The Act itself (and its related regulations) pretty much allows broad discretion for that investigation. And so the Department of Education is able to look at records in the school districts, whether that's academic records, employment profiles, investigation records. They can do interviews with students and staff and community members. They can do a full-on investigation of what is occurring, see if it's an isolated issue, see if it's a systemic issue, and then offer recommendations to the school district.

Has that changed now?

There are a few points that are really important. One, they (OCR) were, again, protecting the rights of students, even if a school, school district or the state is not intervening. But also, rather than just pulling the funding, which is the ultimate tool that the federal government can use, they were committed to ensuring that these students who are harmed, who are likely the most marginalized, have an opportunity to get the education they require. And so rather than just withholding funding for noncompliance, they would say, “Let us help you determine how you can comply and remedy the situation so that you're creating a safe and non discriminatory environment for all students and staff that you serve.” ….

In most of those cases, the district or the school would take the action that's been recommended. If they did not make recommended changes, then the Department of Education had the option to turn to the Department of Justice, their partner in the federal space, and say, “Hey, this entity isn't complying. We need you to go sue.” The beauty of that is that the Department of Justice has a tool that private citizens don't have right now, which is the disparate impact tool, meaning that they could rely on data showing disparities as proof of discrimination, whereas a private citizen has to show discriminatory intent.

If I'm a parent and my student is facing discrimination, I can file a complaint and trust that the federal government (though unfortunately understaffed and under resourced, so these processes often took more time than it should), I could trust that the federal government was going to come to my students aid and help rectify the situation. I could trust that if I know that my child's being discriminated against and the school is not fixing it, that at the end of the day, they're going to either have to fix it or they're going to risk losing their funding.

Parents and families can't trust that anymore, and that's a huge blow. We have protections from the 14th Amendment, but the Civil Rights Act was implemented, Title VI specifically, because we had these protections, and they were not being enforced, and students were not being protected. By downsizing the Department of Education, by gutting the Office for Civil Rights, by gutting the Department of Justice, there's no one at the federal level to intervene. And the small interventions that are happening are happening by weaponizing Title VI.

What does that mean for the future of safe learning spaces in public schools for students from particularly vulnerable communities?

It's really interesting because we are hearing a lot from some of these conservative movement leaders talking about “states rights.” …. So let's look at what protections we have at the state level. At Brown's Promise, we really have leaned a lot on state-level litigation, as opposed to federal because, despite all the rollbacks at the federal level, there are still a lot of strong civil rights protections at the state level that we can build upon and rely upon. I gave the example of how you file a complaint with OCR related to a Title VI violation previously, but most states also have similar complaint processes where the State Education Department will do an investigation and look into potential harms against students.

I think it's also really important to lean on local grassroots efforts. You want to think about policy levers and you want to think about community advocacy. Finding strong, strong champions to potentially run for office in your community. Getting to know your school board members, knowing your school leaders and the practices and policies that they're putting into place, and leaning on that and then building coalitions and community…. I think it's really important to remember that we still have all of these rights and no one person can take them from us.

How can an average person who has an interest in a strong public education system ensure that the intended mission of the Civil Rights Act is fulfilled?

Civic engagement is obviously critical; however, one of the most impactful ways that the average person can help is find a school in your community and show up. If you're a parent, be involved in your child's school. If you're not a parent, what school does my friend’s child in my city go to? Or, what school does my family in my city go to? And get involved, whether that's financial support, whether that's volunteering, whether that's mentoring, tutoring. At the end of the day, yes, we need these, huge systemic changes, but those take time, and while we're doing that, there are kids who are going to school every single day who still need a quality education based not only on high quality and strong academics, but also on the skills of empathy and global citizenship and civics, all of that can fall by the wayside when we're fighting such a big fight. So I think it's a “both and.” We need to have these big systemic changes and utilizing these other levers of power, but we also can get back to the basics of the little things I can do in my community to make a difference. And that sometimes is just as simple as showing up to volunteer or tutoring a young person, or donating a gift basket for a fundraiser.