Washington, D.C. – Today the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) condemned the U.S. Department of Education’s removal of critical guardrails protecting students from discrimination in career and technical education programs (formerly referred to as “vocational programs”) without any notice or opportunity for the public to comment.

The Department of Education’s action removes guidelines that, since 1979, had helped ensure compliance with civil rights laws that protect students from discrimination based on sex, race, color, national origin, or disability.

“These guardrails, put in place nearly half a century ago, are critical to robust enforcement of our civil rights laws and have helped to protect students from discrimination,” said Gaylynn Burroughs, NWLC’s vice president for education and workplace justice. “Career and technical education is a direct pipeline to jobs and wages. Discrimination here doesn’t just deny students the opportunity to learn; it denies them a pathway to a solid livelihood. Rolling back the guidelines would dismantle the only systemic monitoring structure in career and technical education and return us to the era of unenforced promises. The Department of Education must immediately reinstate the guidelines and ensure that the career and technical education is available to all students, no matter their sex, race, or disability.”