Mission/Functions:

 

The Utah State Office of Education, Educational Equity Section is the federally mandated monitoring office for the K-12 public school system to monitor for civil rights compliance in accordance with the U.S. Department of Education, (OCR) Office for Civil Rights regulations which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, handicap, age or religion (Title VI); on the specific basis of sex (Title IX); and (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973) which is designed to eliminate discrimination on the basis of handicap [disability] in any program or activity receiving Federal Financial Assistance; and (Title VII) equal employment opportunity (EEO) and fair employment practices.

 

Services

 

• OCR Compliance Monitoring for Title VI, Title IX, Section 504, and Title VII
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• Respond to civil rights related inquiries and alleged discrimination complaints.

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• Use following steps to process civil rights related complaints:

• Process civil rights complaints using the "Utah State Office of Education (USOE) Civil Rights Routing Notification" which lists allegations, possible areas of civil rights violations, and resolution recommendations. This document is then forwarded, within 24 hours, to the responsible local education agency (LEA) (district).


• Serve as complaint resolution facilitator at the request of complainant and/or LEA.


• If remedies not satisfactory, inform complainant of right to file with Region VIII, OCR.

• Sponsor/co-sponsor civil rights complaint prevention training for local education agencies.