The National School Boards Association reports that the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has released a “Dear Colleague Letter” addressing equal access to educational resources for all students. Standards for such access were established in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI requires that “all students have equal access to comparable resources in light of their educational needs.”
The letter describes various examples of education inequalities. For instance, schools with greater numbers of minority students are less likely to offer Advanced Placement or gifted and talented courses.
The DOE’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released the letter to provide guidance to superintendents and school district officials for correcting such disparities. The letter instructs administrators about (1) education resource requirements, (2) how OCR investigates resource disparities, and (3) how to meet obligations to all students.
