Education Discrimination — know your rights
Schools receiving federal funds cannot discipline Black students more harshly, track them away from advanced coursework, ignore racial harassment, or deny program access based on race.
Your rights
- Discipline proportionate to what other students receive for the same conduct
- Access to gifted, AP, and advanced programs on equal criteria
- A school that responds to reported racial harassment
- Your child's complete education records (FERPA)
How to file with ED Office for Civil Rights
180 days from the incident.
How to document it
- Request discipline data comparisons in writing — districts must keep records
- Put every complaint to the school in email, never just phone calls
- Request your child's full file before meetings
- Ask for the district's written discipline policy and compare treatment
Document it before you forget the details
Memory fades and deadlines pass. IronRecord timestamps and encrypts your evidence, counts down your filing window, and generates a court-ready report in one click. Free to start.
Start documenting — freeGuides on education discrimination
What Happens After You File an OCR Complaint for School Discrimination
You filed a Title VI or Title IX complaint with the Dept. of Education's Office for Civil Rights. Here is the exact timeline: intake, investigation, and the three ways it ends.
8 min readHow to File a Title VI Complaint: Racial Discrimination in Schools
Your child has 180 days to file a Title VI complaint with the Department of Education if a school discriminated by race, color, or national origin. Here is how to do it for free.
9 min readHow to File a School Discrimination Complaint with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
You have 180 days to file a discrimination complaint against a school with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. Here is what counts as discrimination, who can file, and how to do it for free.
9 min readOther rights guides
This guide is general legal information, not legal advice. Laws and deadlines vary by state and change over time; confirm details for your situation with a civil rights attorney. IronRecord uses conservative deadline estimates so you file with time to spare.