 4-11-2025
Following a recent notice from the U.S. Department of Education (U.S. ED) requiring state education agencies to collect certification responses from Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to verify compliance with federal civil rights laws, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce is sharing the following update.
A federal lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire resulted in an agreement with the U.S. ED. Ohio is not a party to this case, but the agreement reached applies to all states, including Ohio. As part of this agreement, the following correspondence was issued:
- ED (U.S. ED) will not initiate enforcement action, investigation, or otherwise take action based on any State or LEA certification, lack of certification, or communication with ED (U.S. ED) regarding the certification, until after the April 24, 2025, deadline has passed. Up to and including that date, States and LEAs may submit or re-submit the requested certifications and/or other responses to OCR, and ED (U.S. ED) will not act upon such submissions or rely on them as material representations until after April 24, 2025.
- Certifications by States and LEAs are not effective until after April 24, 2025, and may not be used for any purpose, including but not limited for the basis of any enforcement action, investigation, claim under the False Claims Act, contract claim, or any other basis for liability by any public or private party.
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ED (U.S. ED) will not initiate any enforcement action, investigation, or otherwise take action based on the Dear Colleague Letter issued on February 14, 2025 and subsequent actions implementing the letter until after April 24, 2025. This would not preclude enforcement actions, investigations, or other actions based on Title VI in general or the Students for Fair Admissions case.
- ED (U.S. ED) will direct States to notify every LEA in its jurisdiction of this correspondence by close of business on Thursday April 10.
In compliance with the above, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce again requests, as stated in the previous April 7, 2025, message, that traditional public school districts, including city, local, and exempted village school districts; joint vocational school districts; community schools; and educational service centers submit their signed certification responses by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, April 18. According to the U.S. ED, failure to comply with this deadline may jeopardize access to federal funding.
For instructions for uploading certification responses, please see the April 7, 2025, message.
Districts and schools that have already submitted certifications do not need to take any additional action at this time.
For further guidance on compliance requirements, please consult your legal counsel.
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