Know Your Rights

Know Your Child's Rights

Knowledge of the Law Is Critical

Despite the current administration’s actions, federal laws and constitutional protections for Black students remain on the books. Understanding them is your first line of defense. Federal agencies can change their priorities, but constitutional rights are not erased by executive orders.

Federal Laws That Still Protect Your Child

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title VI prohibits any institution that receives federal funding, including K-12 schools, from discriminating based on race, color, or national origin. This law applies to every public school in America and has not been repealed.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) If your child has a disability or an IEP (Individualized Education Plan), federal law still requires schools to provide a free and appropriate public education. About 7.5 million children ages 3 to 21 are currently served under this federal protection. Monitor your district closely because the Trump administration has cut staff from the Office of Special Education Programs.

FERPA or the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act You have the legal right to access your child’s school records, request corrections, and control who else sees them. Schools must respond to your request within 45 days.

The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) Parents have the right to be notified and to opt out before schools conduct certain surveys, evaluations, or collect personal information on your child.

42 U.S.C. § 1981: Right to Equal Treatment Often overlooked but powerful, Section 1981 guarantees all persons the same right to make and enforce contracts regardless of race. In education, this means Black students in magnet, gifted, or any selective academic program have the right to be evaluated on the same terms as all other students. Racial exclusion from academic opportunities can be challenged under this statute.

Constitutional Protections That Come Directly From The Constitution

42 U.S.C. § 1983: Your Most Powerful Legal Tool

Section 1983 was originally enacted as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1871, known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, with the explicit goal of providing remedies for civil rights violations against African Americans after the Civil War. It remains the law today. Section 1983 makes every person who, under color of state law, deprives any citizen of their constitutional rights liable to the injured party for redress, meaning you can sue school officials, principals, teachers, and local government employees directly when they violate your child’s rights. Civil rights attorneys use Section 1983 to address violations of students’ constitutional rights, including cases involving racial discrimination, disability rights, and due process in disciplinary proceedings.

Real examples of when to use it include when your child is racially profiled or singled out for discipline because of their race, when a school official searches your child without legal justification, when your child is suspended or expelled without a fair hearing, when school staff violate a constitutional right while acting in their official capacity, and when your child is being racially harassed and the school refuses to act.

One important limitation to know about is qualified immunity. The doctrine of qualified immunity remains a significant hurdle. Courts can dismiss cases if the exact nature of the violation is not clearly established in prior rulings, creating a high bar even in serious cases of misconduct. This is why documenting everything and working with an experienced civil rights attorney matters.

The 14th Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause

The Equal Protection Clause prohibits state and local governments, including public schools, from treating people differently based on race without an extremely strong legal justification. The Equal Protection Clause prohibits states from denying any person equal protection under the law, and the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education recognized that racial segregation in public schools violated this clause. Today, Section 1983 continues to serve as a tool for addressing discriminatory practices in education. If your child is placed in lower academic tracks, denied resources, treated differently than students of other races, or subjected to racial harassment that the school refuses to address because of race, this is your constitutional argument.

The 14th Amendment and the Due Process Clause

Before your child can be suspended for more than 10 days or expelled, the school must provide notice of the charges and a meaningful opportunity to be heard. This is constitutionally required. Parents should request a hearing in writing before any long-term suspension or expulsion, bring documentation and if possible a witness or advocate, ask for the school’s discipline policy in writing, and appeal any decision believed to be racially motivated.

The First Amendment and the Right to Free Speech and Expression

Public school students do not leave their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door. The First Amendment protects your child’s right to express political or social opinions within reasonable limits, your child’s right to wear culturally significant clothing or symbols including those connected to Black identity and heritage, your right as a parent to speak at school board meetings, organize other parents, and petition the school for changes, and students’ right to freely practice their religion without government interference, including wearing religious attire or observing religious holidays. The Trump administration has used the concept of anti-indoctrination to remove Black history content from schools, but the First Amendment cuts both ways. Schools cannot suppress student speech simply because it affirms Black identity or history. If your child is punished for writing about Black history, expressing support for civil rights, or wearing culturally meaningful clothing, that may be a First Amendment violation actionable under Section 1983.

The 4th Amendment and Protection from Unreasonable Searches

Students have a reduced but real expectation of privacy in school. School officials can search a student only if they have reasonable suspicion, and that standard cannot be applied in a racially discriminatory way. If your Black child is searched in circumstances where students of other races are not, that selective enforcement may be both a 4th Amendment violation and an Equal Protection violation, both actionable under Section 1983.

What The Trump Administration Has Changed

DEI Programs Are Under Attack The Department of Education has announced it considers DEIA programs discriminatory and has threatened to withhold federal funds from any state or district that continues to operate them. Programs designed to support Black student achievement may be cut or renamed at your school.

Civil Rights Enforcement Has Been Redirected The Trump administration is now using the Office for Civil Rights, historically a tool to protect marginalized students, to investigate schools with programs that support Black students, including investigating Chicago Public Schools over a Black Students Success Plan.

The Disparate Impact Standard Is Being Weakened Previously, schools could be held accountable for policies that harmed Black students even without stated discriminatory intent. Project 2025 calls for sweeping action to ensure that any guidance interpreting Title VI explicitly rejects the disparate impact theory of liability, making it harder to challenge racially neutral-sounding policies that still harm Black children disproportionately.

Funding for Special Education Has Been Cut The Trump administration cut nearly everyone who works in the Office of Special Education Programs, alarming parents and advocates of the 7.5 million children currently protected under federal disability law. If your child has an IEP, monitor your school district closely and request all communications in writing.

Black History and Curriculum Are Being Erased The administration has ordered the removal of educational content on slavery and Black history from federal institutions and is pressuring schools to eliminate any curriculum it deems racially divisive. Your child still has a right to a truthful education and you have a right to demand it from your local school board.

Racial Harassment Complaints Are Being Ignored

This is one of the most urgent and underreported crises facing Black families right now. The OCR regularly resolved dozens of racial harassment cases a year and did so even during Trump’s first administration. But since Trump returned to office, the department’s Office for Civil Rights has not entered into a single new resolution agreement involving racial harassment of Black students, according to a ProPublica analysis.

The numbers are stark. Since January 20, 2025, the OCR has opened only 14 investigations into allegations of racial harassment of Black students while more than 500 racial harassment complaints were received in that same period. When Biden left office, there were about 12,000 open investigations; by late 2025 there were nearly 24,000. Attorneys still on the job at OCR describe working in what they call a dismissal factory, and records show that most complaints filed by families have been dismissed without investigation.

To accomplish this, the administration systematically dismantled the enforcement infrastructure. About 300 OCR workers were laid off and seven of the 12 regional civil rights offices were closed. Cases that were nearly resolved, with families weeks away from getting justice, were abandoned when the offices handling them shut down.

Meanwhile, OCR did not pursue a single Title VI case involving racial discrimination against Black students in 2025. The agency’s enforcement shifted to antisemitism cases and investigations targeting equity-oriented programs like DEI, while cases involving racial discrimination against Black students went uninvestigated.

This matters legally. When the federal complaint process is deliberately dismantled, it strengthens the case for bypassing it entirely and filing directly in state or federal court under Section 1983, because families have been effectively denied the administrative remedy the law was supposed to provide.

Read our full report: [When Schools Fail Black Children: How the Federal Government Stopped Listening — link to your page]

What You Can Do Right Now

Request Your Child’s Records Under FERPA, you can request all school records at any time, especially if your child is facing discipline, special education placement, academic tracking decisions, or unaddressed racial harassment.
Document Everything If your child is disciplined, denied resources, racially harassed, or treated differently, document dates, names, and exactly what was said or done. Written records are essential for any future complaint or lawsuit. For harassment, save screenshots, written communications, and the names of any witnesses your child identifies.
Report Racial Harassment to the School in Writing Always report harassment in writing because email creates a timestamped record. Address it to the principal and copy the district superintendent. When schools receive written notice and fail to act, their inaction itself becomes evidence of a civil rights violation.
Attend and Speak at School Board Meetings Local school boards still have significant power. Funding termination by the federal government requires a lengthy process including investigation, a finding of violation, and a Congressional waiting period, so local officials have more protection than the administration implies. Show up, organize, and hold them accountable.
Know Your School’s Discipline Data Schools are required to report discipline data by race. Request this from your school or district. Black students have consistently experienced higher rates of school discipline for largely subjective reasons such as disruptive behavior. A racial disparity in that data is grounds for a complaint.
File Complaints Through Multiple Channels Do not rely on the federal OCR alone because the data shows it is not functioning for Black families. File simultaneously with your state’s Department of Education or civil rights office, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund at naacpldf.org, the ACLU at aclu.org, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law at lawyerscommittee.org, and the U.S. Dept. of Education Office for Civil Rights at ed.gov/ocr. Still file with OCR but do not wait on them alone.
Consult a Civil Rights Attorney Many civil rights organizations offer free legal consultations. Given that the federal complaint system is failing Black families, a Section 1983 lawsuit filed directly in court may be your most effective path. Act quickly because Section 1983 claims are generally governed by your state’s personal injury statute of limitations, typically 2 to 3 years.
Engage Your State Legislature Federal rollbacks do not automatically erase state-level protections. Many states have civil rights laws that go further than federal law. Contact your state representative and demand they codify protections and enforce them independently of the federal government.

KEY RESOURCES

NAACP Legal Defense Fund: naacpldf.org. ACLU Know Your Rights: aclu.org/know-your-rights. Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: lawyerscommittee.org. U.S. Dept. of Education Office for Civil Rights: ed.gov/ocr. National School Boards Association: nsba.org. Congressional Black Caucus Foundation: cbcfinc.org. National Center for Youth Law: youthlaw.org. Intercultural Development Research Association: idra.org.

This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. If you believe your child’s rights have been violated, consult a licensed civil rights attorney in your state.