Publication

10 April 2025

Request for Certification Enforcement Delayed – For Now

The recent request for certification by the U.S. Department of Education was delayed in an agreement in a lawsuit by the National Education Association (“NEA”).  In ongoing litigation, the NEA had filed a request for a temporary restraining order, seeking to prevent enforcement of certifications submitted by State and Local Education Agencies (or the lack of such certification) and the February 14, 2025 Dear Colleague Letter issued by the U.S. Department of Education.

The temporary restraining order was dismissed as moot after the NEA and U.S. Department of Education reached the following agreement:

  • U.S. Department of Education will not initiate enforcement action, investigation, or otherwise take action based on any State or LEA certification, lack of certification, or communication with the U.S. Department of Education regarding the certification, until after April 24, 2025. Up to and including that date, States and LEAs may submit or re-submit the requested certifications and/or other responses to OCR, and U.S. Department of Education will not act upon such submissions or rely on them as material representation until after April 24, 2025.
  • Certifications by States and LEAs are not effective until after April 24, 2025, and may not be used for any purposes, including but not limited for the basis of any enforcement action, investigation, claim under the False Claims Act, contract claim, or any other basis for liability by any public or private party.
  • U.S. Department of education will not initiate any enforcement action, investigation, or otherwise take action based on the Dear Colleague Letter issued on February 14, 2025 and subsequent actions implementing the letter until after April 24, 2025. This would not preclude enforcement actions, investigations, or other actions based on Title VI in general or the Students for Fair Admissions case.
  • U.S. Department of Education will direct states to notify every LEA in its jurisdiction of this correspondence by close of business on Thursday April 10.

For now, the request for certification (and any enforcement action) has been delayed.  The court in this case scheduled a hearing regarding this for April 17, 2025.  We expect a ruling by April 24, 2025.