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   Critics say the move is an attempt to appease teachers' unions   
      
   The Department of Education wants to roll back a Trump-era effort to   
   collect data on teacher-on-student sex crimes.   
      
   The department's Office for Civil Rights will not ask school   
   districts questions regarding teacher-on-student sexual assault   
   allegations as part of its 2021-2022 Civil Rights Data Collection,   
   proposed Thursday. The change is designed to "reduce burden and   
   duplication of data," an Education Department spokesman told the   
   Washington Free Beacon. But critics say eliminating the question is   
   the Biden administration's attempt to appease teachers' unions.   
      
   "This is the ultimate act of bowing to the teachers' unions,"   
   Kimberly Richey, who served as acting assistant secretary in the   
   Office for Civil Rights in the Trump administration, told the Free   
   Beacon. "Through this proposal, the Biden administration is actively   
   helping schools cover up these incidents, which we were   
   intentionally shining a light on."   
      
   The Education Department will still ask districts to report   
   documented cases of rape and sexual assault. But it will not ask   
   school officials to report allegations that resulted in the   
   resignation or retirement of the accused. Former secretary of   
   education Betsy DeVos added those optional questions to the 2020-   
   2021 data collection, which was delayed one year due to the   
   coronavirus pandemic. The department also won't ask districts to   
   report pending cases or cases in which a school staffer was   
   reassigned to another district school prior to the conclusion of an   
   investigation.   
      
   Reporting alleged sex crimes in addition to documented cases   
   provides a fuller picture of sexual violence in schools, as the   
   accused may retire, resign, or seek employment elsewhere before a   
   district can reach a conclusion in the case.   
      
   Public schools' mishandling of sexual assault cases has become a   
   political liability for Democrats across the country. Allegations   
   that school officials in one Northern Virginia school district   
   covered up a double sexual assault case roiled parents just weeks   
   before the gubernatorial election. Teacher-union-backed Democrat   
   Terry McAuliffe lost to Republican Glenn Youngkin by 2 points in the   
   commonwealth, where President Joe Biden handily won by a 10-point   
   margin.   
      
   Office for Civil Rights data collected during the Trump   
   administration found that sexual assault and rape cases surged in   
   public schools over the past decade. DeVos added those optional   
   questions to the 2020-2021 data collection after the 2017-2018   
   survey found that nearly 15,000 allegations of rape, attempted rape,   
   and sexual assault were reported during that school year, according   
   to an October 2020 brief on the statistics. That data set did not   
   distinguish between teacher-on-student and student-on-student   
   crimes.   
      
   The Education Department's proposal will enter a 60-day period for   
   notice and public comment. The Office for Civil Rights will respond   
   to each individual comment and create a final proposal, which will   
   then undergo an additional 30-day public comment period before being   
   sent to the Office of Management and Budget for final approval.   
      
   American Enterprise Institute research fellow Max Eden tells the   
   Free Beacon that the Education Department's move is unsurprising,   
   given the Biden administration's ties to teachers' unions.   
      
   "Teachers' unions have a structural interest in protecting all of   
   their members—including alleged pedophiles," Eden said. "Data   
   suggesting systemic nonchalance about child sexual abuse in public   
   schools would be quite politically inconvenient for teachers'   
   unions. Now the data won't be collected."   
      
   One top Education Department official has been accused of   
   mishandling allegations of sexual abuse. Four women allege that   
   Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten ignored their complaints   
   against a teacher while she was the superintendent of San Diego   
   Unified School District. One of the accusers, Loxie Gant, told the   
   Free Beacon in March that when she met with Marten to discuss the   
   allegations, Marten implied Gant was using the meeting as a   
   "publicity stunt."   
      
      
   https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/bidens-education-   
   department-wants-to-roll-back-effort-to-catalog-teacher-sex-crimes/   
      
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