What is illegal education discrimination?
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) offers protection in K-12 schools and the Pennsylvania Fair Educational Opportunities Act (PFEOA) offers protections for colleges, universities, trade, technical, professional, and business schools. If you feel you have been discriminated against, in general, you have 180 days to file from when the alleged discrimination happened or when you turn 18.
In education, it is illegal to discriminate against someone based on:
- Race (including protective hairstyles)
- Color
- Sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.)
- Religious creed
- National origin
- Ancestry
- Disability
- The use, handling, or training of service or guide animals for a disability
Retaliation is also illegal, and the law protects you if you stand up against discrimination.
Education discrimination can be:
- The actions of a student, teacher, administrator, or other school employee.
- A school’s policy or the way the policy is applied.
- A school’s policy or procedure that negatively affects a particular group.
Additional education resources
When filing a discrimination complaint
- Language translation and services for visual and hearing disabilities are available upon request if you need help with filing a complaint.
- You must be a victim or have the legal authority to act on behalf of a victim.
- Save any evidence you may have to support your complaint (e.g., text messages, pictures, etc.)
- You have the right to obtain private legal services at your own expense, but this is not required.
File a complaint
If you feel you have experienced illegal education discrimination, fill out the education intake questionnaire and email or mail it to the PHRC.
Frequently Asked Questions
A PHRC staff member is available to help you:
- Decide whether you would like to file a complaint.
- Draft the complaint and prepare it in legal form for your verified signature.
- The complaint will be:
- Assigned a docket number.
- Served to the respondent (the person you have named in your complaint as responsible for the alleged discrimination) within 30 days of the date of docketing.
- The respondent is required to:
- Answer your complaint within 30 days of the date it was served unless an extension of 30 days is approved in writing by the PHRC.
- Provide you with a copy of its answer.
Retaliation is when someone is discriminated against because they:
- Opposed any practice forbidden by the PHRA or PFEOA.
- Made a charge, testified, or assisted in an investigation, proceeding or hearing
- A teacher disciplines or grades students differently based on their race, color, sex, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, or disability.
- Students are denied admission, or opportunities, such as scholarships or extracurricular activities, because of their race, color, sex, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, or disability.
- A student cannot physically access a facility because of barriers or a lack of ramps or elevators.
- A school refuses to make reasonable accommodations for a student's disability or religion.
- Classmates harass or bully a peer because of their race, color, sex, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, or disability and the school district does not address these behaviors.
- A teacher requests sexual favors in return for grades or repeatedly makes sexual comments to a student.
- A classmate repeatedly makes sexual comments or gestures or subjects a peer to sexually offensive images and the school does not address these behaviors.
The PHRA and the PFEOA may not offer protections for students attending certain schools, such as those that are distinctly private. This exclusion is fact specific and can be evaluated by the PHRC on a case-by-case basis.
If your complaint is disability-related, you must also complete and submit the Disability Information Release for Education [PDF] form to the PHRC.
You will need to file an employment discrimination complaint.
Contact the PHRC
If you have questions about illegal education discrimination, contact us.
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