Federal Legislation & News
in Special Education
White House Releases Budget, IDEA & ESEA Programs Significantly Altered
On May 30, the Administration released a Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget proposal which proposes $12.35 billion in cuts to the U.S. Department of Education (ED), which includes significant eliminations and consolidations of authorized programs under both the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as well as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Specifically, most of ESEA’s Title programs (except for Title I) are eliminated, and a smaller “K-12 Simplified Funding Program” is established, providing states with the flexibility to determine how to prioritize the funds. Such consolidation would require approval by Congress.
For IDEA, the budget proposes the elimination of current Part B 619 preschool grants (ages 3-5) and all Part D National Activities programs with the recommendation to transfer [all] to the Part B grants to states (ages 6-21). Because currentlaw does not allow this flexibility -and in fact requires specific activities to be funded and overseen by the Secretary under IDEA Part B 619 and Part D- ED has requested Congress to provide “new appropriations language that would allow States to reserve additional funds for activities previously administered by the Department under the National Activities and Preschool Grant programs.” If approved, states would then determine whether and how to fund preschool education for children with disabilities, parent training and information centers, personnel preparation for special educators, technical assistance in evidence-based practices, and accessible classrooms, materials, and assistive technology. Significant cuts are also proposed to research and innovation (e.g., eliminating the National Center for Special Education Research, among others), and the Office for Civil Rights budget is cut by one-third. Other agencies, such as Health and Human Services (HHS) include major consolidation of programs to include the proposed elimination of the Administration for Community Living (wrapped into the Office for Children and Families). While most disability support programs (e.g., protection and advocacy, developmental disability councils etc.,) remain intact, the consolidation is concerning given that capacity at HHS has been impacted due to a recent reduction in force.
On the process front, appropriators have just begun negotiations on FY 2026 bills, and ultimately, it is up to Congress, and not the Administration, to determine spending priorities and levels. To highlight details from the FY 2026 budget, Stride Policy has prepared the attached chart for your reference and to ensure Congress hears from COPAA’s members, we urge you to email your Representative and Senators about the need to invest in all of IDEA’s programs to ensure students with disabilities thrive.
McMahon Proposes $12.35B Budget Reduction to ED
U.S. Department of Education (ED) Secretary Linda McMahon presented ED’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget to both the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Committee on Education and Workforce. As part of her testimony, McMahon detailed two primary objectives for K-12 funding: enforcing the Administration’s goals to use their interpretation of federal law [to eliminate the federal role in K-16 education] and emphasizing school choice. During the question-and-answer sessions, Members of both chambers were particularly interested in knowing why the TRIO program -a college access program for youth [including students with disabilities]- had been eliminated and why before-school and aftercare funds that were legally appropriated for FY 2025 had not been spent. Many were also concerned about recent cuts to student mental health care, especially when data shows that youth mental health is in crisis. Other points of contention focused on ED’s ongoing delay in showing how FY 2025 funds will be dispersed. In response to McMahon’s assertion that the Department is “working on it,” several Senators emphasized that FY 2025 is ending in four months and that staff reductions at ED will make the disbursements difficult to manage in a timely manner.
Senate HELP Committee Conducts Nomination Hearing for ED Positions
On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) held a hearing to consider the nominations of Dr. Penny Schwinn for Deputy Secretary of Education and Kimberly Richey for Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Education (ED). In her remarks, Dr. Schwinn emphasized the importance of centering education policy on student needs rather than systems, highlighting her track record in Tennessee on reading outcomes and [public] school choice. She underscored the importance of state-level innovation, local authority, and accountability. Ms. Richey, nominated to lead the ED’s OCR, stated her commitment to protecting students from discrimination in all forms and emphasized the need to ensure civil rights protections, particularly for students with disabilities and LGBTQ+ students. Senators questioned her on topics ranging from antisemitism and office closures to the backlog in civil rights complaints. Richey affirmed her intention to advocate for adequate OCR resources and a balanced focus across all protected statuses. Throughout the hearing, Senators expressed divergent views on issues like Title IX protections, school choice, and the role of the federal government in education. While some, such as HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), emphasized local control and the value of parental choice, others, including Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) and Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), raised concerns about data transparency, mental health support in schools, and proposed departmental reorganizations.
GAO Recommends DoD Assess Mental Health Services to Students
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released an investigative report into the adequate provision of mental health services in Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools. As a result, the GAO has found seven recommendations for Department of Defense (DoD) action. “ DoD agreed or partially agreed with six recommendations, and disagreed with one, which GAO maintains is valid.” Agreed upon or partially agreed upon recommendations will strengthen support for student mental health and academic services. The report calls for the DoDEA to issue guidance discouraging the use of school counselors as standardized testing coordinators, ensuring they remain focused on student support. It also recommends assessing the current workforce’s capacity—particularly access to school psychologists and school counselors—to implement the federally recognized Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) to support academic and behavior needs of students and developing a plan to address any staffing gaps. The report also urges comprehensive evaluations of the Military and Family Life Counseling (MFLC) and School Behavioral Health programs, incorporating feedback from staff and leaders to improve effectiveness. DoD disagrees with the recommendation that the Secretary should instruct the Director of the Directorate of Prevention, Resilience, and Readiness to assess how the Adolescent Support and Counseling Services (ASaCS) program is being used, gather input from DoDEA staff and school leaders, and create a plan to address any concerns revealed by the evaluation.
Trump Wants to Cut More Than 40 Federal K-12 Programs. See Which Ones
Education Week
President Donald Trump is proposing $12 billion in cuts to the U.S. Department of Education budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. The plan “reflects an agency that is responsibly winding down,” the administration says in budget documents. While the president’s budget proposal keeps topline funding steady for the Education Department’s two largest sources of funding for schools, Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, it asks Congress to eliminate nearly four dozen other grant programs that provide services for specific K-12 student populations, pay for teacher training and professional development, and fund education research and data collection, according to an Education Week analysis of the Trump budget. The Trump administration proposes to consolidate 18 of those grant programs into a $2 billion “K-12 Simplified Funding Program” that states and districts would have substantial flexibility to spend as they see fit—though with $4.5 billion less overall than what the individual programs it would replace currently provide. It proposes eliminating six special education grant programs and transferring the money allocated for them into the primary IDEA funding stream for states.
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ED FY 2026 Budget Would Eliminate IDEA’s National Activities, Asks Congress to Amend the Law
Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released its Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget detail that includes major cuts and changes to education programs, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Described as “streamlining” and “giving power back to the states,” the FY 2026 budget proposes that Congress eliminate all of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part D National Activities currently overseen by the Office of Special Education. As proposed, those program funds would be wrapped into the Part B grants to states (ages 6-21) and would also combine IDEA Part B 619 preschool grants (ages 3-5) into Part B state grants. Part D programs are authorized and required by law to provide essential supports, including parent training and information centers, personnel preparation, technical assistance centers (e.g.. PBIS, significant disproportionality, inclusive classrooms), training for new special educators and general educators, assistive technology/accessibility supports, and more. Because current law does not allow this flexibility -and in fact requires specific activities to be funded and overseen by the Secretary of Education under IDEA Part B 619 and Part D- ED has requested Congress to provide “new appropriations language that would allow States to reserve additional funds for activities previously administered by the Department under the National Activities and Preschool Grant programs” without explaining whether and how the existing Part B 619 and Part D requirements would be altered. COPAA is extremely concerned about the proposal and will continue to recommend to Congress that no changes be made to IDEA through the appropriations process or otherwise at this time.
Budget Reconciliation Bill Passes the House
Prior to the Memorial Day recess, the House of Representatives narrowly passed H.R. 1, the budget reconciliation bill- by a vote of 214 to 215. Running more than 1,000 pages, the multitrillion-dollar tax and spending package (in summary): extends the tax cuts provided for businesses in 2017, steers more money to the military and border security, temporarily raises the child tax credit to $2500 (for eligible families to 2028), raises the state and local taxes cap (SALT) to $40,000 (with income limit), adds a new federal education voucher provision ($20 billion over 4 years) which COPAA opposes, and adds a new one-time federally subsidized savings account of $1,000 for children (with eligibility limits). To pay for the package, the bill slashes $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP) -significantly altering eligibility requirements for both programs- and finds $350 million via education programs by limiting Pell Grant eligibility, eliminating subsidized school loans, abolishing loan repayment deferment for unemployment and/or economic hardship, and eliminating tax credits for certain green initiatives. HR1 also includes a provision that would restrict federal judges from holding government officials in contempt when they violate a court order. The legislation now heads to the Senate, where it is expected to face significant challenges and revisions. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is aiming to finalize the bill before the 4th of July recess.
COPAA opposes HR 1 due to the addition of the tax credit-to-education voucher provision, harmful cuts to Medicaid, and the changes in Pell grant eligibility, which harm access to college for more than 45 percent of the 3.5 million adults with disabilities utilizing the program.
ACT NOW: Tell the US Senate to OPPOSE HR 1 or SIMILAR SENATE BILL
Judge Blocks EO to Shutter ED, Orders Fired Employees to be Reinstated
On May 29, 2025, District Judge Myong Joun blocked an Executive Order (EO) issued by the White House to close the U.S. Department of Education (Department) and ruled that the Administration must reinstate hundreds of employees who had been previously fired. Myong’s ruling is a preliminary injunction, which means it will remain in force until the case is resolved or a higher court overturns it. The injunction, which was requested by two school districts in Massachusetts, the American Federation of Teachers, and 21 Democratic state attorneys general, states that the reduction in force (RIF) issued at the Department [as by Secretary McMahon] led to a “de facto elimination of the agency, interfered with essential services, and did not lead to the agency efficiencies claimed by the Department.” Instead, Myong ruled that the plaintiffs “have provided an in-depth look into how the massive reduction in staff has made it effectively impossible for the Department to carry out its statutorily mandated functions.” In response to a media inquiry, Madi Biedermann, the Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications, responded that they “will immediately challenge this on an emergency basis.”
OCR opens race, disability discrimination probe into Wisconsin district
K-12 Dive
The U.S. Department of Education is investigating a Wisconsin school district over allegations that it discriminated against a White elementary school student with dyslexia on the basis of race, according to a statement from the agency Wednesday. The investigation is based on a complaint made earlier this year claiming that the Green Bay Area Public School District prioritizes special education services based on racial “priority groups,” which the student at the center of the complaint did not fall into. That complaint also alleges the district discriminated against the student on the basis of disability and did not provide timely and adequate special education services. The investigation into the Green Bay Area school system is one of several K-12 race discrimination reviews the Education Department has opened since President Donald Trump took office that appear to scrutinize school policies and practices intended to support racial equity.
Lawmakers, judge push back on Education Department’s gutting, citing inefficiency
K-12 Dive
The Trump administration’s decision to gut federal programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education and lay off half of the agency’s staff in an attempt to increase its efficiency has been met with resistance from lawmakers and, most recently, a federal judge whose court order brought efforts to close the department to an abrupt halt. In an update required by a May 22 court order, the Education Department posted on its website that it has notified its employees of the court-ordered reversal of the reduction in force that left the agency with only about 2,183 out of 4,133 employees. The department on May 27 acknowledged its being compelled by the order in State of New York v. McMahon “to restore the Department to the status quo such that it is able to carry out its statutory functions.”
Federal Judge Blocks the Dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education
On May 22, 2025, the plaintiffs in the federal case New York v. McMahon won an important preliminary victory, in which the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted a preliminary injunction that blocks the sweeping changes recently ordered by President Trump aimed at dismantling the U.S. Department of Education. This preliminary injunction will be in effect during the litigation of this case until the court reaches a decision on the merits and determines whether the Executive Branch acted unlawfully in its attempts to shut down the Department.
The Department cannot be shut down without Congressional approval, and the court determined that the Executive Branch’s “true intention is to effectively dismantle the Department” without that approval from Congress.
The court ordered that the Executive Branch cannot carry out the announced reduction-in-force (RIF) that would reduce the Department’s staff by half, cannot carry out President Trump’s March 20, 2025 executive order instructing Secretary Linda McMahon to take all steps to close down the Department, and cannot carry out President Trump’s March 21, 2025 directive to transfer special education functions out of the Department. The court’s order requires that all federal employees of the Department who were terminated as part of the RIF be reinstated and requires the Department to resume the “status quo” of its statutory functions.
The court highlighted the “core obligation” of the Department to support students with disabilities and their parents, as well as the schools and teachers who educate those students. The order made note of the Department’s support for research, pilot programs, personnel and technology development, and parent training and information centers, or PTIs. The court also explained the “vital role” played by the Office for Civil Rights within the Department for enforcing civil rights laws in schools, allowing students to file complaints without the need to file suit in court or to pay for litigation costs.
A spokesperson for the Department has stated that the administration plans to challenge the court’s decision. The plaintiffs in this case include several states, school districts, and labor unions. including the American Federation of Teachers. This case has been consolidated from two separate cases, including Somerville Public Schools v. Trump
Judge blocks Trump’s moves to gut Education Department
Chalkbeat
A federal judge on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction blocking President Donald Trump’s executive order to shut down the U.S. Department of Education and said the agency must reinstate the employees who were fired as part of mass layoffs. After U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced the agency’s plans in March to slash its workforce by roughly half, she called it a first step in getting rid of the agency. Trump followed days later with his executive order aiming to eliminate the department, a move he has long wanted. But only Congress can actually eliminate the department, and the administration’s attempt at getting around that influenced U.S. District Judge Myong Joun’s Thursday ruling. The Trump administration argued that they implemented agency layoffs to improve “efficiency” and “accountability,” the Massachusetts judge wrote, but then said: “The record abundantly reveals that [the administration’s] true intention is to effectively dismantle the Department without an authorizing statute.”
How Trump’s policies are already upending special education
Education Week
Jennifer Donelli has served since 2020 as executive director of Parents Reaching Out, a nonprofit organization designated and partially funded by the federal government since the early 1980s as New Mexico’s “parent training and information center” for special education. Every state, by law, has at least one. Donelli estimates she and her team of four full-time and six part-time staffers help hundreds of families a year: answering questions on the phone, shipping resources to their homes, even driving hours for home visits. But since President Donald Trump took office, Donelli’s job has gotten tougher. Some Hispanic families—including U.S. citizens and undocumented immigrants—fear that sharing details about their circumstances could put them at heightened risk of deportation. Meanwhile, a routine application for the federal government to reauthorize the organization’s longstanding annual grant of $250,000 has become a months-long ordeal with no end in sight.
Trump cuts may end oversight of Illinois special ed school
Chicago Tribune
A short video taken inside an Illinois school captured troubling behavior: A teacher gripping a 6-year-old boy with autism by the ankle and dragging him down the hallway on his back. The early April incident would’ve been upsetting in any school, but it happened at the Garrison School, part of a special education district where at one time students were arrested at the highest rate of any district in the country. The teacher was charged with battery weeks later after pressure from the student’s parents. It’s been about eight months since the U.S. Department of Education directed Garrison to change the way it responded to the behavior of students with disabilities. But the department’s Office for Civil Rights regional office in Chicago, which was responsible for Illinois and five other states, was one of seven abolished by President Donald Trump’s administration in March; the offices were closed and their entire staff was fired. The future of oversight at Four Rivers, in west-central Illinois, is now uncertain.
What families need to know: Special education law with Attorney Matt Cohen
NPR Illinois
Matt Cohen is an attorney and founder of Matt Cohen & Associates. He specializes in special education, disability rights, and human services law. He spoke to Community Voices about the history of special education laws in Illinois, challenges that schools and families face, and gives his opinion on how the dismantlement of the Department of Education would affect education and kids with disabilities. Matt also gives advice on how families of children with special needs should navigate the school system.
Note: Matt Cohen is a COPAA Board member.