The federal watchdog that Minnesota schools once feared is now a skeleton of itself.

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR), housed within the United States Department of Education, has been cut in half as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the overall department.

President Donald Trump has long pushed for the oversight of schools to fall on the states, but lawyers and advocates tell 5 INVESTIGATES that the move is impacting federal complaints that claim schools have discriminated against students because of their race or disability.

Parents also worry that the mistreatment of young kids could fall through the cracks.

“I’m still waiting on the Department of Education to get back to me,” said Terress James, mother of 6-year-old Judah from Richfield, Minnesota.

James decided to turn to the OCR earlier this year after feeling like her son’s school treated him differently because he’s Black and has special needs.

“Who are we going to turn to now?” she said.

The Complaints

According to the latest available data, the Office for Civil Rights took in nearly 23,000 complaints in 2024 about schools violating students’ civil rights.

Data from the same year shows the office investigated, settled and closed more than 15,000 cases from around the country.

Some cases are processed within weeks, but others take years to finalize. The office still exists today, but with roughly half the staff. 

Administration officials have said publicly that certain investigations are a priority, including cases of male athletes playing in female sports. The Department of Justice recently announced its involvement in those cases.

OCR and the Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment.

“Personally, it’s devastating,” said Jessica Heiser, a lawyer who started her career at the OCR regional office in Chicago. She now works for the Minnesota Disability Law Center.

Traditionally, Heiser said they refer roughly seven cases every month to the Office for Civil Rights. That number is now down to zero.

“It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” she said.

The agency’s online database shows the website was last updated in late January, around the time the new administration took over. Right now, in Minnesota, the data shows there are 130 open, active investigations into schools violating students’ civil rights.

“The vast majority will stay stale for years. Nobody will look at them, nobody will process them,” Heiser said.

The weight of the Feds

Bernadeia Johnson still remembers getting a letter from the Office for Civil Rights back when she was the superintendent for Minneapolis Public Schools more than a decade ago.

“It was really alarming,” she said.

Federal investigators found the district was suspending Black kids significantly more often than white kids for similar offenses. 

The issue was already on Johnson’s radar, and she had been working on coming up with a solution. The disparity became even more serious when the federal government got involved. 

“It meant to me that we’re treating students differently, and it felt like it was inequitable and it was dehumanizing in some ways,” she said.

Johnson described the experience as a wake-up call for the district. The discipline procedures that came out of that investigation remain in place today.

“What the federal government coming in did (is) it created this sense of acknowledgement,” Johnson said. “Everybody knows what’s going on in schools, but few people talk about it.”

What now?

Lawyers who handle complaints about schools recommend that the best first step when an issue arises is to meet with school leaders to try to resolve the problem.

If that fails, the state Department of Education may be able to help. However, a spokesperson tells 5 INVESTIGATES that its jurisdiction is limited mainly to special education disputes, not general civil rights complaints. 

The Office for Civil Rights still accepts complaints, but as James found, there’s no guarantee you will get a response. 

“What if this is happening to other children and other parents?” she said. “I know how to advocate for kids, and I’m gonna continue doing it.”