Trump administration moves to limit fixes for systemic racism in schools

The Trump administration has rolled back tools once used to address systemic racism in schools, ending an approach shared by past Republican and Democratic administrations that treated unintentional discriminatory outcomes as worthy of federal correction. This summer the Education Department rescinded a regulation letting schools compare outcomes across races, then told schools it is illegal to weigh race in discipline policy even when one racial group is suspended or expelled more often. The Justice Department has also pulled back from school desegregation cases, announcing Thursday that it closed more than 50 such cases since Trump took office, with more dismissals planned. President Trump signed an executive order in May 2025 directing agencies to stop examining "disparate impact," the idea that neutral-seeming policies can still disproportionately harm one group, an analysis previously applied most often to school discipline, according to ABC News.

Education Department spokesperson Sabin Sidney said prior administrations had "weaponized disparate impact," arguing it produced unsafe classrooms. Rep. Bobby Scott countered that returning enforcement to the states evokes conditions before school segregation was outlawed in 1954.

The shift has stalled a 2021 case over Denver Public Schools allegedly pushing out Black male students with disabilities disproportionately; advocate Pam Bisceglia said federal silence lets districts continue as before. By contrast, a 2018 settlement with Durham Public Schools over disproportionate Black student suspensions led to a new conduct code and equity office, something former board member Jovonia Lewis said gave parents leverage they otherwise lacked.

Summarized by PolitiKool from ABC News’s reporting. Read the full story at ABC News →