captimes.com

A nonprofit striving to close achievement gaps and reduce racial disparities in Madison schools may soon run out of money, according to the organization’s executive director. Jeffrey Lewis, who leads Natural Circles of Support, said the nonprofit’s contract with the school district ended in August. The nonprofit has since relied on money from its reserves to continue a program supporting Black students with disabilities at East High School. Lewis recently applied to an outside grant in hopes of continuing the initiative — but to no avail. He said the work could end as soon as this spring if Natural Circles is unable to secure additional funding from the school district or other community partners. 

TCU 360

Texas lawmakers are pushing to bring special education discussions into the public arena with proposed changes to service requirements. Senate Bill 568, currently under committee review, aims to reshape how school districts and open-enrollment charter schools handle matters involving students with special needs. Under current law, districts have the discretion over whether discussions about special education take place in open meetings. The proposed legislation would require school districts or open enrollment charters to include a discussion of the performance of students in special education services programs annually during public meetings.

KATU

Hundreds of educators from across Oregon gathered in Salem to advocate for House Bill 2953, which aims to lift funding caps for special education services in the state’s public schools. The bill, discussed in a packed hearing room, seeks to address the gap between current funding and the actual needs of students requiring special education. Currently, Oregon caps additional funding for special education at 11% of the State School Fund, while the average number of students needing these services is closer to 14.8% per district. Some districts report even higher numbers, leading to a mismatch between funding and actual needs.

kare11.com

At the University of St. Thomas, 185 students recently found out their scholarships have been canceled by the federal government. The university’s president, Rob Vischer, said Friday night the school received an email from the U.S. Department of Education that explained how a grant program that awarded the university $6.8 million was being canceled. “Honestly, this was quite surprising to us,” President Vischer said. He told KARE 11 that the surprising aspect of this decision was that the grant program was recently flagged by the Trump administration as a DEI initiative (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) that goes against the administration’s goals. “Under the Biden administration, grant applicants were required to explain how use of the funds could advance diversity in the teaching profession, which we, of course, did,” Vischer said. “The core of the grant we don’t think is a priority that is changed. We still need more special ed and elementary teachers.”

WFYI

Indiana is one of several conservative states asking a Texas court to declare unconstitutional a 52-year-old federal law that offers crucial protection for people with disabilities, including students. Conservative attorneys general in 17 states filed a lawsuit in September that they say aims to reverse a Biden-era regulation from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that could extend protection under Section 504 to people with gender dysphoria. But the lawsuit, led by Texas, takes a much broader aim: It asks the court to rule that Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 exceeds federal authority. The states also asked the court to strike down the entire new rule. An expert on disability education law told WFYI that it’s extremely unlikely that the courts would rule that Section 504 is unconstitutional. However, advocacy groups for people with disabilities are calling for states to withdraw from the lawsuit, which is in limbo because of the new presidential administration.