Currently the Title IX final regulations are set for March 2024, and that includes both athletics and nondiscrimination on the basis of sex. As we wrote in March 2023, the process for getting the Regulations from drafted to issued involves significant work with the Office of Management and Budget, including the opportunities for meetings with stakeholders, and, inasmuch as final regulations have not been submitted to OMB as of the date of publishing this note, the math and our experience with the 2019-2020 regulatory calendar makes it such that a March 2024 issuance date is highly unlikely.
In April, the Department plans to issue a proposed rule on nondiscrimination on the basis of sex and disability for vocational educational programs.
May’s agenda includes a proposed rule on FERPA. While the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act is not a nondiscrimination law, changes to how records are kept and shared may impact nondiscrimination and antiharassment policies and procedures.
The last nondiscrimination-related item on the current Department of Education agenda is scheduled for December 2024: a proposed rule on discrimination based on shared ancestry or ethnicity. The forthcoming proposed rule follows other agency activity around shared ancestry and antisemitism, including the following:
- January 2021 Questions & Answers regarding OCR’s enforcement of Title VI https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/qa-titleix-anti-semitism-20210119.pdf
- January 2023 Fact Sheet: Protecting Students from Discrimination Based on Shared Ancestry or Ethnic Characteristics, https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/ocr-factsheet-shared-ancestry-202301.pdf
- May 2023 Dear Colleague Letter on Addressing Antisemitism https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/antisemitism-dcl.pdf
- November 7, 2023 Dear Colleague Letter on Shared Ancestry https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-202311-discrimination-harassment-shared-ancestry.pdf