Education Department Report on Civil Rights Complaints

Christina Samuels reports at Education Week:

Disability issues made up close to half of the complaints received by the U.S Department of Education's office for civil rights over fiscal years 2013 and 2014, far outpacing the next highest category for complaints, which was sex discrimination.

The figures come from a recently-released report from the civil rights office that was submitted to the White House and Secretary of Education. The report said that 19,939 complaints were filed over the two fiscal years, of which 9,941 were alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Both laws prohibit disability discrimination by public entities. Fiscal 2013 saw 9,950 complaints filed in all categories, and in fiscal 2014, 9,989 complaints of all kinds were filed.

That compares to 6,933 total complaints filed in 2010, and 5,533 complaints filed in 2005, to give an idea of the pace of the growth. But the report also states that OCR has also been resolving cases at a record pace; nearly 20,000 were closed in fiscal years 2013 and 2014.