Special Education
Laws & News
Across the States
LA: Cameras to be installed in special education classrooms statewide
The new school year will bring a major change to special education classrooms across Louisiana, as a recently passed law goes into effect aimed at increasing transparency and student safety. Under Act 479, all self-contained special education classrooms in the state will be required to have at least one security camera installed by Feb. 1, 2026. “Previously, it was with a parental request,” said Falin Key, special education director for the Lafayette Parish School System. “Now, it’s mandated,” Key said. Lafayette Parish is well on track to meet the deadline, with 132 classrooms scheduled to have cameras installed by the due date—thanks to nearly $400,000 in state funding. “These are classrooms where the majority of the students spend most of their day in special education,” Key said. “The state has given us funds for that, based on how many students we have in that continuum of services.”
NC: NC isn’t meeting federal special education requirements. State officials point to the teacher shortage
North Carolina public schools aren’t evaluating students for special education in a timely manner, they’re not resolving complaints quickly enough, and they’re not properly helping most disabled students 16 and older prepare for adulthood. Those are among the findings of a new federal report that found the state has continued to fall short of federal special education standards. The U.S. Department of Education labeled the state as one that needs assistance with managing special education for the second year in a row, based on the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years — not the first time in the past decade the state has received consecutive “needs assistance” ratings. The designation means more federal oversight. That could include requiring the state to access federal technical assistance, designating the state as “high-risk” when considering grant awards, or directing the state to set aside federal funding to address shortcomings.
TN: Critics of Tennessee’s school voucher program worry that it leaves kids with disabilities behind
WPLN News
Backers of the new school voucher program promised that it would expand school choice for Tennessee families. But critics worry the program leaves students with disabilities behind. The controversial statewide voucher program – called Education Freedom Scholarships – lets families use taxpayer funds to offset the costs of attending private school. Nashville-based disability advocate Zoe Jamail warns that kids with disabilities will lose some protections when using these vouchers. “What we know is that a private school, unlike a public school, doesn’t have to admit a student with a disability,” she told WPLN News. “So right off the bat, we have a problem in terms of access.” Students with disabilities who accept a voucher forfeit their rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — the federal mandate for a free, appropriate public education. This includes a right to an individualized education plan (IEP).
VT: New data shows IEP prevalence at Vermont’s private schools
Vermont Public
Vermont’s private schools have long bristled at the notion that they cherry-pick their students. Those claims come from public education advocates, who say independent schools that benefit from taxpayer funds nevertheless turn away students with higher needs, burdening a financially stressed public system. “When schools that receive public dollars are allowed to create policies and systems that prevent some students from accessing these opportunities, all students in the state suffer,” Chris Young, the president of the Vermont Principals’ Association, said in a recent press release. That accusation is at the heart of a long and bitter dispute over Vermont’s voucher system, known as town tuitioning, which allows students in communities without schools to attend the public or private school of their choice. It has typically been lodged absent any hard data, so Vermont Public requested enrollment figures from the Vermont Agency of Education. An analysis of data for the 2023-24 school year, the most recent available, suggests that the state’s private schools, in general, did enroll students on individualized education programs at lower rates than public schools in Vermont.
VA: VA school divisions repay nearly $30 million in misused special ed funds; one division disputes
Virginia Mercury
Three school divisions were alerted that they misused federal funds intended for students with disabilities have made nearly $30 million in total repayments, according to the state Department of Education, which will be returned to the federal government. Still, one division is actively disputing the alleged misappropriation. The Essex, Northumberland, and Loudoun County school divisions’ misuse of federal money for special needs students became widely known after the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) investigated Loudoun County Public Schools in May. VDOE later confirmed to the Mercury that school divisions in the Essex and Northumberland counties had also been found in violation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This law requires school divisions to meet a Maintenance of Effort (MOE) obligation, which stipulates that spending on children with disabilities fueled by local or state funds not dip below the level of the preceding fiscal year.
WI: Wisconsin to lose special education teacher programs under Trump cut
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Despite objections from Wisconsin’s K-12 education agency, the federal government upheld its decision to cut a state grant intended to support special education teachers. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction had appealed a decision by the U.S. Department of Education to cut the funds over diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. At issue for the federal government were mentions of “whiteness” and an “equity mindset” in grant application materials. In its appeal, DPI defended the grant program as successful in improving retention of special education teachers. It also said it had removed the language at issue in order to comply with the federal directives. In its Sept. 29 response, the federal department said the grant would still be eliminated because it conflicts with the priorities of President Donald Trump’s administration.
VT: Vermont’s special education system under strain
Valley News
The percentage of students with disabilities in Vermont’s education system is on the rise, while many school districts lack the capacity to meet their needs, according to a new report released this week by the state Agency of Education. While overall student enrollment in Vermont’s schools has decreased, the number of students on individualized education programs, or IEPs, has increased at a rate outpacing the nation since the 2019-20 school year, the report said. The analysis presented in the report paints “a complex picture of special education in Vermont,” the report reads. Experts said that students with IEPs in Vermont are spending more of their time in regular classroom settings — a positive finding in the report. But at the same time, school districts in Vermont are sending more students with IEPs to out-of-district schools at a rate more than double the national average. Meanwhile, the gap in four-year high school graduation rates between students with and without IEPs increased to 19 percentage points in 2024.
WA: WA OEO report shows 17% surge in family calls in 24-25 data
The Olympian
The state’s Office of the Education Ombuds last year received the highest number of calls since its founding, according to a recently released OEO annual report. The number of calls for the 2024-25 school year — 1,643 total concerns — represented a more than 17% case growth over the previous fiscal year. Compared with two years prior, it marked a 36% spike. TOP VIDEOS The video player is currently playing an ad. Housed within the Office of the Governor, the statewide agency established in 2006 helps to resolve issues between Washington families and schools and close achievement gaps. It maintains independence from the public-school system. Ombuds work to mend communication breakdowns between parents and educators, and they push for fair processes for the state’s students. Agency staffers assist parents in navigating problems, said Erin Okuno, OEO’s acting director. Sometimes that can look like pointing a caller in the right direction about who to talk to in the district. Okuno said OEO has seen a steady increase in its case count in recent years — and that bump has been a lot for a small, 10-staff agency to handle.
AZ: State Board of Education addresses premature graduation
State Affairs Pro
After stakeholders raised concerns about districts prematurely graduating students with disabilities, thereby cutting off access to services and federal protections, the State Board of Education is calling on the Department of Education to answer questions about the existing law and guidance on graduation. Under both state and federal law, students with disabilities are entitled to an education until the age of 22. However, disability attorneys pointed out at last month’s board meeting that schools plan to issue a diploma.
CA: How this teen pushed California to change special education policy
EdSource
Saran Tugsjargal, 18, advocates on behalf of special education students for the state Disability Commission.
When she got to high school, she realized that she needed to stand up for herself. One of the first ways she did that was to show up to the meetings that determined what kind of specialized instruction she would receive due to her disabilities. This is known as her IEP — Individualized Education Program.
Advocating to improve the templates that are a part of the IEP process has also been a key part of Tugsjargal’s advocacy work as a student commissioner. She worked with the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence on a new template, required by the state Legislature, that will be rolled out in the coming years. “Youth and families need an IEP template that speaks to them, not a federal document that looks like a corporate document,” she said.