WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Thursday pressed U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos during a U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies hearing on the administration’s FY 2021 budget request for the U.S. Department of Education. Murphy specifically pressed DeVos on her proposal to eliminate certain questions from the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC)—a report issued by the federal government every two years aimed at collecting data on key education and civil rights issues in public schools across the United States. Murphy noted that Connecticut reformed its preschool out-of-school suspension practices due to data collected from the CRDC.

“I know you're a believer in states having as much discretion as possible, but it's kind of hard for Connecticut to know whether we're doing something right or wrong if we can't compare ourselves to other states,” said Murphy. “I'm really concerned because you have proposed getting rid of a lot of the data that's collected here. And you're proposing to eliminate data including teaching experience school funding, chronic absenteeism, advanced coursework and access to early childhood education.”

Murphy continued: “One of the things we figured out is that while African American kids represent only 20% of preschool children, they represent 50% of preschool children who are suspended. That's an abomination. And because we knew that, Connecticut actually led the way in reforming our practices. We, in fact, just eliminated preschool out of school suspensions, and many other states are now acting because we have that data national institution.”

Murphy added: “So given the importance of data, something that Republicans and Democrats have generally agreed on, why would the department try to make it harder for policymakers and advocates to use data to make change?”

A complete transcript of Murphy’s exchanges with DeVos can be found below

MURPHY: “Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Good to see you again Madame Secretary—thank you for being here. I am holding in my hand a press release from January of last year, where you announced an initiative to address the inappropriate use of restraint and seclusion to protect children with disabilities and ensure compliance with federal laws. I thank you for this.

“This is an incredibly important issue. There is a need for guidance for school districts that for variety of reasons are doing this wrong today, and are restraining far too many children are locking certain kids up in seclusion.

“We had incidences in my state of Connecticut in which some schools were using something called ‘scream rooms’ in which they would lock kids in rooms for hours at a time with no meaningful supervision.

“I think it's really important that you have tasked OCR with monitoring this and working with states to do better.

“I don't know if you have any update to share on this today, but I think this is an incredibly important partnership that we can engage in Republicans and Democrats to try to reduce the need for restraints, and I would argue the elimination of seclusion as a practice in schools, especially for kids with disabilities.”

DEVOS: “Well, thanks, Senator. I appreciate your bringing this up. And it is an ongoing initiative. We initiated audits in, across the country through the 12 regional offices of the Office for Civil Rights to ensure, well, audit a number of schools and districts and then to communicate and ensure that schools know what their responsibility is around the law, primarily to bring a lot more sunlight to this and a lot more transparency. And don't yet have a report or a result to share with you but it is an ongoing concern and it is very high on my list of priorities as well.”

MURPHY: “Well, if there is going to be a product to report, I'd encourage you to present that as soon as possible. I think there's interest in Congress in legislating appropriately on this question, and your guidance could be helpful. Thank you for your focus on that.

“I want to stay on the issue of civil rights. Civil Rights data collection is something that I've cared a lot about—in part because I've seen how important it is for the federal government to be in the business of collecting national data. National data is really important, so that we can compare apples to apples.

“I know that you're a believer in states having as much discretion as possible, but it's kind of hard for Connecticut to know whether we're doing something right or wrong if we can't compare ourselves to other states. And so, the civil rights data collection is a report that's produced every two years that allows states to take a look and see how they're doing compared to other states in terms of how children of color children with disabilities are performing.

“And I'm really concerned because you have proposed getting rid of a lot of the data that's collected here. And you're proposing to eliminate data including teaching experience, school funding, chronic absenteeism, advanced coursework and access to early childhood education. And I have an example of why some of the data that you're proposing to get rid of has helped. And one of the things we figured out is that while African American kids represent only 20% of preschool children, they represent 50% of preschool children who are suspended. That's an abomination. And because we knew that, Connecticut actually led the way in reforming our practices. We in fact, just eliminated preschool out of school suspensions, and many other states are now acting because we had that data, nationally, and states could see how they're doing?

“So given the importance of data, something that Republicans and Democrats have generally agreed on, why would the department try to make it harder for policymakers and advocates to use data to make change?”

DEVOS: “Thanks for the question. We have indeed proposed the elimination of some of the questions from the most recent data collection universe and adding additional ones. There has been a back and forth on a comment period and we are certainly open to and considering the second round of comments on that. It's clearly our interest to ensure that the data that is collected is useful for states and communities and we will look more closely at the areas of concern that you've expressed. I would say that some of the proposed changes and or eliminations are now captured under ESSA [Every Student Succeeds Act] reporting requirements as well. And so there's some of that going on.”

MURPHY: “I would just encourage you to take another look at this. I understand the concern about unfunded mandates. I don't hear a lot of complaints from school districts on the civil rights data reporting and if the federal government is involved in education for any reason, it's for the purposes of defending peoples and children civil rights. And so I think this is really important data to get back in that collection system. I appreciate your response.”

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