August 21, 2026
Written by Sasha Pudelski, Director, Advocacy at AASA, The School Superintendents Association and member of the AESA advocacy team
On August 20, the U.S. Department of Education published a new guidance document for superintendents that lays out the Department's interpretation of the legal standards governing the consideration of race in school discipline and how districts can ensure compliance with federal law. The guidance builds on a regulatory change issued in July, discussed earlier in our updates, that eliminated disparate impact liability under Title VI.
The new guidance builds on that regulatory change by outlining the framework school districts should use to meet their constitutional and statutory obligations. According to the Department, neither Title VI nor the Constitution requires schools to consider race when making student discipline decisions. In fact, the guidance states that using or considering race in disciplinary actions is generally prohibited and would be permissible only in extraordinarily limited circumstances that satisfy the highest level of constitutional scrutiny. Superintendents should view this document as the Department's legal guidance, not a mandate requiring immediate policy changes. The letter does not establish new requirements for school districts; rather, it explains how federal officials currently interpret Title VI and the constitutional principles they believe should govern student discipline policies.