Educational Opportunities Discrimination Text Size:

General Discrimination

The Equal Educational Opportunities Act ("EEOA") prohibits public elementary and secondary schools from:

• Failing to take action to overcome language barriers that impede equal participation in a school district's educational programs
• Deliberately segregating on the basis of race, color or national origin
• Discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin in employment, employment conditions and assignment of faculty and staff
• Transferring students in order to increase segregation on the basis of race, color or national origin among a district's schools

Disabilities Discrimination

The Americans With Disabilities Act ("ADA") provides that schools:

• Can't discriminate on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of services, goods, facilities, advantages or accommodations
• Must not use eligibility criteria that screen out individuals with disabilities from equally enjoying any goods or services unless they can be shown to be necessary
• Must reasonably modify policies and practices to accommodate disabilities unless such modifications would fundamentally change the nature of the goods and services offered to students
• Must take steps to make sure students with disabilities aren't excluded because of the absence of "auxiliary aids"
• Must remove architectural barriers where removal is readily achievable

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA") requires states and local education agencies to provide a free appropriate public education to children with disabilities.

If you believe you've been discriminated against, you can contact the Educational Opportunities Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division for more information about your options, at 1-877-292-3804.

Sherrie Bennett is the former director of Student Legal Services at the University of Washington in Seattle.

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