Federal Legislation & News
in Special Education
Technology helps some students with disabilities excel. Now it’s leaving schools
NPR
Much of the pivot away from screens in schools has come from parents who are concerned screen use is getting in the way of their children’s learning — an argument Heather Martin hears in her own community in Concord, 30 miles northeast of San Francisco. She shares some of those concerns, but says, “Never once in the conversation has there been a discussion, except for me bringing it up with the other parents, about kids with disabilities.” Advocates worry those students are also being left out of the national conversation. “My concern is that that’s a really fast period of time for this to happen,” says Lindsay Jones, CEO of the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), an education research nonprofit that focuses on making learning environments accessible. Jones points out that some of these laws do make exceptions to restrictions on screens for students with disabilities — often a line in the text mentions assistive technology. But she says that should be the bare minimum and worries many policy proposals are “a very blunt instrument.”
Rethinking the Debate Over Rising Disability Accommodations in Higher Education
American Bar Association
Recent pieces in the media, including The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, have reported on the dramatic rise in disability accommodations at elite colleges—with much of the increase tied to conditions such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression and extended time on exams as the most common accommodation. Some elite colleges report that roughly a quarter to over a third of students are registered with disability services. In legal education, available data and institutional estimates suggest that approximately one in five students receive accommodations, most commonly extra time on exams.
These pieces also highlight concerns raised by some commentators about access to accommodations, institutional incentives, and the evolving definition of disability, as well as debates over the high rates of accommodations, time limits, and fairness in assessment. However, a closer look suggests that commentators may be asking the wrong questions.
Common Sense Media Launches Youth AI Safety Institute
Common Sense Media has launched the Youth AI Safety Institute, an independent research and testing organization focused on ensuring that AI products used by children and teens are safe and developmentally appropriate. The initiative comes as AI use among young people grows rapidly, with many teenagers regularly using AI companions and homework tools. The Institute will create safety standards, develop open-source evaluation tools for AI companies, independently test AI products, and publicly share results to increase transparency and accountability. Its model is similar to independent vehicle crash testing: evaluating products against clear safety benchmarks and helping families understand which tools are safer.
Read the press announcement here.
Ed Dept wants to end some IDEA data collections. How did stakeholders respond?
K-12 Dive
A U.S. Department of Education proposal to remove certain data collections for racial disparities in special education has drawn opposition from special education organizations, disability rights advocacy groups and a coalition of state attorneys general. The Education Department, in a March 23 Federal Register notice, sought public comment on proposed changes to the federally required State Performance Plans and Annual Performance Reports for special education. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, each state must develop these documents to evaluate their efforts to implement IDEA requirements and detail how it will make improvements. The plans and reports include indicators that measure student and family outcomes and that help evaluate compliance with IDEA requirements.
Specifically, the department has suggested eliminating data collections used in these reports for:
- Significant discrepancies in suspension and expulsion rates for students with disabilities.
- Significant discrepancies in suspension and expulsion for students with disabilities by race and ethnicity, and policies contributing to those discrepancies.
- Disproportionate representation of racial and ethnic groups in specific disability categories that result from inappropriate identification.
In its notice, the Education Department said it wants to reduce state data collection burdens by better aligning the reporting process with IDEA statutory requirements, eliminating duplicative reporting, and streamlining reporting. The department estimated the changes would save about three hours in paperwork burden for each state and territory.
Some 313 comments were submitted before the public comment period ended on May 22
Screen time limits call for nuance, disability advocates say
K-12 Dive
Amid growing calls to scale back screen time in schools, some organizations and education researchers are urging a more nuanced approach that considers the quality and purpose of technology — particularly for students with disabilities who rely on assistive technology for learning, communication and health reasons. Limiting screen time in schools could hinder access to devices that students with disabilities rely on for individualized services and accommodations, experts say. Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, said her organization continues to hear that students with disabilities have difficulty accessing the assistive technology they need.
“Any blanket policy runs the risk for further exasperating that challenge and could run afoul of” the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Marshall said in an email to K-12 Dive in April. The access barriers to assistive technology have always been there, she said, but they have “gotten slightly worse” since some districts have implemented policies limiting technology use.
How much do schools spend on special education? Feds aim to find out
Disability Scoop
For the first time in more than two decades, federal officials are moving forward with plans to find out just how much schools across the nation are spending on students with disabilities. The U.S. Department of Education is taking steps to green-light what’s known as the National Special Education Spending Study. “The study will produce estimates for what is spent on special education services for students with disabilities (SWDs), both overall and by disability category, including expenditures made by states, districts, and schools,” the agency’s Institute of Education Sciences said in a request for clearance from the White House Office of Management and Budget.
The study “will provide policymakers and special education administrators with an up-to-date understanding of the key factors that influence special education spending, what this spending pays for, and to what extent federal appropriations from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) cover special education spending,” officials said.
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12 Students with Disabilities Were Left Out of Their High School Yearbook
People
Twelve students with disabilities were left out of their high school yearbook.
The teens were omitted from Chapel Hill High School’s yearbook this year, according to WRAL. Parent Krista Caraway learned of the omission when she discovered that her two children with disabilities were not included in the memorial book for the North Carolina school. “[My son] called me around 1:30, 2:00, very upset, and he said, ‘I’m coming home,’ which is very unlike him. And he said, ‘I’m not in it,’ ” she told WRAL. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools later confirmed to WRAL that those who were left out of the yearbook were students with disabilities. The school district said they were “inadvertently” left out, and the error was attributed to an internal procedure.
The school district said they were “inadvertently” left out, and the error was attributed to an internal procedure. The affected students are expected to receive updated yearbooks, a spokesperson for the school told the outlet. News and Observer reported that the school is also making insert pages available for others.
Senate Hearing Focuses on Charter Schools, Highlights Special Education
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee held a hearing last Wednesday titled, “Meeting the Individual Needs of All Students: The Role of Charter Schools.” As Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) gaveled in, his opening remarks focused on the need for parents to exercise school choice and the Committee’s responsibility to ensure such choices exist. He welcomed two majority witnesses: Debbie Vaughn, co-founder of Lakes and Bridges Charter School in Easley, South Carolina, and parent of two children with dyslexia; and Moranda Jackson, a parent and teacher assistant at GEO Prep in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ms. Vaughn’s testimony highlighted that her children with dyslexia could not access needed services through the traditional public school, which led her to co-found a specialized charter school for children with dyslexia. She emphasized the role of the Charter School Program (CSP) funding that the federal government provides to states to help launch new charter schools and described some challenges a school faces as CSP funding dissipates over time. Ms. Jackson shared how the GEO ‘dual enrollment’ model allowed three of her children to complete associate degrees before entering post-secondary education, noting that one daughter had just spoken as valedictorian. Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) introduced the minority witness, Jennifer Coco, Esq., Interim Executive Director of the Center for Learner Equity (CLE). Ms. Coco discussed the organization’s work to remove systemic barriers that exclude students with disabilities from high-quality learning opportunities so families have true access to choices and robust support in public charter schools. She presented recommendations for Congress to consider, including fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), funding all K-12 and IDEA programs, and preserving the Department of Education, including the Office for Civil Rights and the Office of Special Education Programs. Several Senators attended and discussed the themes of education funding, helping students with disabilities access their special education services, IDEA full funding, and the difference a well-resourced charter school with trained leaders and staff can make for students.
Senate HELP Committee debates charter school expansion
Legis1
The Senate HELP Committee held a hearing on charter schools on Wednesday, May 20, that put a sharp spotlight on one of the Trump administration’s core education priorities, while Democrats used the session to raise alarms about the dismantling of federal oversight that protects students with disabilities. The administration strongly supports charter expansion, having proposed a $60 million budget increase for charter schools even as it cuts more than $4.5 billion from broader K-12 programs.
The most consequential data point of the session came from Jennifer Coco, citing Stanford University’s Credo study. For most student subgroups, charter schools showed greater academic gains than traditional public schools. The one exception: students with disabilities, who showed academic learning losses in charter schools. “It brings me no joy to say that,” Coco said, “but it certainly drives the why of our work.” Coco was careful not to frame the problem as charter schools being unwilling to serve students with disabilities. She argued the real issue is structural: charters receive only 75 percent of the per-pupil funding of traditional public schools, lack the economies of scale to offer a full continuum of services, and struggle to compete for special education staff.
Pressure mounts for Ed Dept to release research funds
K-12 Dive
The U.S. Department of Education is under pressure from K-12 and college groups, as well as a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, to release nearly $300 million in funding for education research. In a May 11 letter, a bipartisan group of 19 U.S. senators, including Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said the Education Department received $793 million in FY25 and $789.6 million in FY26 for IES activities and there was a remaining balance of about $290 million that would lapse Sept. 30. IES allocations can be used over a two-year period, the senators’ letter said. A lack of spending at IES has led to “the sharp decline of special education research and data gathering,” according to a statement from Merkley. The senators criticized what they said are the closeouts of hundreds of unreviewed IES FY25 grant proposals within the National Center for Education Research and the National Center for Special Education Research. “This resulted in no new awards being made over the past year, and these awards are crucial to addressing urgent educational challenges facing students,” the letter said.
Could artificial intelligence improve special education?
Consider This from NPR
More and more students are qualifying for special education – more than 8 million students – but there aren’t enough teachers serving them. Special education teachers have for years been in short supply all around the country, and they say one reason they feel overworked is the paperwork. Here’s special education teacher Paul Stone.
PAUL STONE: This job is – this year, it’s – I don’t want to say killing me, but it has put a huge stressor on my mental health, to be honest. It would be kind of nice if there were two jobs, like one paperwork job and one working with the kids.
DETROW: Now, special education teachers are using AI to help them with the mountains of paperwork they are legally required to do.
DETROW: CONSIDER THIS – could artificial intelligence help special educators spend more time with their students?
ED Announces $144 M Boost for Students with Disabilities
On Wednesday, May 13, Secretary Linda McMahon, U.S. Department of Education (ED), announced a $144 million investment to help states expand evidence-based supports for students with disabilities, stemming from “unspent, non-expiring” funds that are attributed to the American Rescue Plan Act, which was passed in 2021. According to ED, the funding, which will be distributed this year, will allow state and local agencies to strengthen programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Secretary McMahon also unveiled new guidance encouraging states to use IDEA Part C funding to support families expecting children with disabilities. The guidance aims to help those parents access information, planning tools, and critical services before and after their child’s birth, and comes on the heels of Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations language that allows for that expanded use of funds.
McMahon Testifies Before House Education Committee
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon appeared before the House Education and the Workforce Committee last week to discuss U.S. Department of Education (ED) priorities. Key topics included the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 budget proposal, efforts to “return education to the states,” a new definition of “professional degree,” and more. Many Republicans supported consolidating K–12 programs into a scaled-back Make Education Great Again block grant, as proposed by the FY 2027 budget. Representative DeSaulnier (D-CA) raised concerns about consolidating programs like Statewide Family Engagement Centers, citing bipartisan support and strong results. He also noted the need to maintain all funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) given the Secretary has proposed to eliminate IDEA Part B-619 preschool and Part D National Activities funding. McMahon affirmed her commitment to supporting students with disabilities. Asked about unspent funds for the Institute of Education Sciences, which includes special education research, she said, “We are evaluating those funds.” On shifting programs to other agencies, McMahon stated ED is “successfully co-administering grants and programs.” Representative Takano (D-CA) questioned the impact of cuts to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR); McMahon noted that, now that staff are in place, the 19,000-case backlog she inherited has been reduced by over 4,000 cases, without detailing how. Discussion also focused on ED’s new definition of “professional degree” under the federal loan program, which excludes fields like teaching, social work, and nursing. Democrats warned this could push students toward more costly private loans, while McMahon argued it would pressure institutions to lower tuition. COPAA has submitted funding recommendations for FY 2027 to Congress.
Senate days are numbered for top Republican charged with Ed. Dept. oversight
Education Week
The Louisiana Republican who leads the U.S. Senate panel that oversees the U.S. Department of Education is entering his final months in office after losing his primary election battle this past weekend.
Secretary McMahon to Testify on Department of Education Budget in the House
On Thursday, at 10:15 a.m. ET, the Committee on Education and Workforce, chaired by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), has announced it will hold a hearing titled “Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Department of Education.” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon is scheduled to testify about the U.S. Department of Education Fiscal Year 2027 budget. COPAA has opposed the Department’s proposal to eliminate Part B 619 funding for preschool and all Part D National Activities along with other cuts (e.g., to the Office for Civil Rights and special education research). COPAA urges its members to email Congress urging them to reject the cuts and support children with disabilities as they negotiate the education appropriations bills.