Feds continue mixed messages on El Paso ISD probe

The U.S. Department of Education has added a lack of resources to its reasons for not pursuing a civil rights investigation related to the El Paso Independent School District cheating scandal.

Agency spokeswoman Dorie Nolt told the El Paso Times (http://bit.ly/19En9dE ) that in the past year the Office of Civil Rights received nearly 10,000 complaints while staffing levels are at their lowest level.

Nolt said that since the office had no indication El Paso students were still being denied an education based on their national origin, additional investigation would not be a good use of resources.

The agency told U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso last week that policy prohibited investigating alleged violations that were more than 180 days old. Another agency official later said that was not the case.