Will Education Cuts Affect GA Civil Rights Investigations?

Thursday, April 3, 2025

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Good morning! This week, we’re reporting on the answers a Glynn County grand jury sought when probing budget overages, details on the first 100 days of Chatham County’s new sheriff, and how federal cuts of the U.S. Department of Education impact pending civil rights investigations in Coastal Georgia schools.

Questions, comments or story ideas? Reach out to us at staff@thecurrentga.org.

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NEWS: COURTS

Glynn grand jurors’ questions

Last fall, a Glynn County grand jury empaneled to hear criminal cases decided it wanted to look into another matter: the contentious budgetary fight between the Brunswick-area district attorney and county commissioners.

Grand jurors produced a report about what it learned about overspending in Brunswick Judicial Circuit Keith Higgins’ office and the money commissioners are demanding the prosecutor pay back. County officials were advised against speaking with the jurors during the investigation, however, due to a lawsuit filed by Higgins. He has alleged that the county is hampering his office’s work.

The Current‘s Jabari Gibbs spoke with three grand jurors about the questions they had for county officials, and Gibbs tried to get answers:

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NEWS: PUBLIC SAFETY

New sheriff’s progress, challenges

When former police chief Richard Coleman won the election for Chatham County sheriff last fall, he said his top priorities would be filling longstanding vacancies on the force, expanding law enforcement presence in the county and making the state’s fifth-largest jail more humane.

Just under 100 days into his term, he is making headway on one of those goals by restoring in-person visits between detainees waiting for trial and their loved ones face-to-face at the jail.

But other initiatives, like recruitment and staffing, have proven more difficult, as he contends with external criticism for the ways he is rearranging budgets and changing the status quo set by long-time incumbent John Wilcher. 

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NEWS SERVICE: EDUCATION, COURTS

Cuts impact school civil rights investigations

Since President Donald Trump took office in January, civil rights attorneys at the U.S. Department of Education have faced a whirlwind of directives and layoffs, throwing into uncertainty more than 12,000 civil rights investigations that stemmed from complaints by students, parents and their advocates, according to reporting from The 74.

In a lawsuit last month, advocates and families accused the Trump administration of eviscerating students’ access to federal civil rights remedies through its steep cuts, with particular harm to students of color, female students and LGBTQ+ youth

The Current examined a list of pending civil rights cases in Georgia schools under investigation by the Education Department as of January 14, before Trump’s inauguration. The page had not been updated since that date and appears to be no longer active as of April 2, but it is archived on the Wayback Machine.

Of the 12,000 pending cases, there were 17 investigations into Coastal Georgia schools. The allegations included disability discrimination, sexual violence, racial harassment and age discrimination.

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