She did not elaborate on the feedback received.
The department published its intention to postpone the regulation last fall. It was submitted for review to the Office of Management and Budget office on regulatory affairs last month.
Liz King, director of education policy at the Leadership Conference, called on the department not to delay the rule. King said children of color are often placed in restrictive settings and disciplined out of school and thus denied educational opportunities.
“There is no excuse, there is no need for a delay,” King said. “We have in this country a significant problem with the way we treat children of color in our schools, the way that we treat children with disabilities in our schools and especially those children whose lives are at the intersection of disability and race.”
Kristen Harper, an expert with Child Trends, a non-profit youth research organization, who worked on crafting the rule under the Obama administration, said it is meant to counter inequities in education.
“The regulation’s mandate that states use a standard approach to identify large racial and ethnic disparities is designed to increase transparency, and allow communities to quickly identify states choosing to allow large disparities to continue,” Harper said.
