Federal Legislation & News
in Special Education
Victory in the Tenth Circuit for Students with Intellectual Disabilities Seeking Individualized Educational Placements
In an important victory last week in Jacobs v. Salt Lake City School District, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled in favor of the plaintiffs—two students with intellectual disabilities and the Disability Law Center— in their lawsuit challenging the manner in which the Salt Lake City School District educates and places students with intellectual disabilities. On behalf of themselves and other similarly situated students, the plaintiffs argue that by automatically placing students with intellectual disabilities in a small handful of specific schools, the school district fails to make individualized educational placement decisions and therefore violates the Individuals with Disabilities with Education Act (“IDEA”), the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
The Salt Lake City School District uses a “hub” system to consolidate educational services for students with intellectual disabilities. The Tenth Circuit explained that the school district categorizes students with intellectual disabilities “based solely on their IQs,” “does not ‘consider the individual needs of students in assigning them’” to programs, and does not meaningfully “consider whether intellectually disabled students could be placed in the ‘general education environment,’” but rather predetermines their placements.
Previously, the United States District Court for the District of Utah had dismissed this lawsuit, finding that the plaintiffs’ claims were “limited to seeking only to attend their neighborhood schools.” The Tenth Circuit disagreed and reversed that decision, finding that the plaintiffs could continue to press their claims under the IDEA, ADA, and Section 504, and remanded the case for further proceedings before the district court.
Notably, the Tenth Circuit also found that the district court erred in dismissing the plaintiff’s 504 claim for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, noting that it would have been futile for the plaintiff students to have attempted to exhaust with respect to their 504 claims during their IDEA due process proceedings, as the hearing officers would have dismissed those claims for lack of jurisdiction.
Broad Coalition of Disability, Civil Rights, and Education Organizations Call for Reversal of Layoffs at Department of Education
Today, COPAA and more than 385 local, state, and national organizations joined together to call for a reversal of the layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education that impact all offices responsible for supporting children with disabilities, their families, and their schools. This year marks the 50th anniversary of IDEA, a law that has enjoyed strong bipartisan support for five decades. Rather than celebrating progress, we face a crisis: the dismantling of the very infrastructure Congress created to ensure children with disabilities could reach their full potential, potentially catapulting them back to a time of segregation and refusal to provide educational opportunities.
Unjust Firings at ED Harms Students with Disabilities
WASHINGTON, DC – In response to the most recent cuts made by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) that eliminate hundreds of jobs within the agency, COPAA CEO Denise Marshall made the following statement:
On Friday, the Department of Education eliminated hundreds of jobs through an illegal Reduction in Force (RIF). As we understand it, these RIFS affect all but a few staff and will harm students with disabilities. The action sends the message that our children are not valued and unfairly creates confusion and chaos in our schools.
The cuts have gutted key offices—including the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) and the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), which are responsible to administer funding and oversee the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
The RIF circumvents the will of Congress and dismantles 50 years of precedent upholding the rights of students with disabilities.
Decimating the Department of Education disrespects and ignores the requirements of the law. IDEA, a federal statute, requires the Secretary of Education to lead, direct, and oversee federal activities that are permanently codified into law. Members of Congress -from both sides of the aisle- agreed on this because they understand that our children, their families, and the educators that support them should not be bandied about with the political winds of one party or another.
We call upon Congress to protect our kids and put the pressure on the administration to reinstate staff at the Department of Education.
Protect Children with Disabilities & IDEA: Tell Congress to Pressure ED to Reinstate Staff TAKE ACTION
Ed Department lays off nearly all special education staff
Disability Scoop
Layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education will leave no more than a handful of staffers in the agency’s special education office, jeopardizing oversight of the nation’s programs for students with disabilities, advocates say. The Trump administration is following through on a White House pledge to lay off federal workers as the government shutdown drags on. While officials at the Education Department are mum on the changes, court documents show that about 466 employees at the agency are affected by the reduction in force, or RIF, and disability advocates said they suspect that the figure is an undercount.
IDEA requires the Secretary of Education to “lead, direct, oversee federal activities that are permanently codified into law,” said Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, or COPAA, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of students with disabilities and their families. “Decimating the Department of Education disrespects and ignores the requirements of the law,” Marshall said.
How will Education Dept. layoffs affect special ed, 504 plans, IEPs?
USA Today
Families and educators across the country were plunged into a state of uncertainty over the weekend after the federal Education Department laid off practically every staffer in the government’s special education division. Nearly the entire Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, including the Office of Special Education Programs, was let go, according to agency workers and their union. Employees in the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, many of whom work to protect students with disabilities from discrimination, were also laid off, the union said. The impacted divisions included offices in the District of Columbia, Seattle, and Atlanta.
Trump’s new layoffs hurt disabled kids
Mother Jones
Last Friday, all but two senior staff members in the federal Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) received reduction-in-force notices, according to reporting from K-12 Drive. It was part of a scourge of layoffs. 460 people across the Department of Education received RIF notices. That is roughly one in five workers in the agency. But OSEP’s evisceration is particularly harmful. One of the major responsibilities of OSEP is to distribute funding connected to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This accounts for the money needed for the roughly 7.5 million disabled students on Individualized Education Plans, also known as IEPs.
Trump lays off employees in department funding special education
NPR
President Trump has talked repeatedly about wanting to return education to the states and that dismantling the Education Department is part of that plan. Eliminating these staff members does not, at this point, cut special education funding to states. But one state director of special education, who spoke with NPR on the condition of anonymity out of concern the government would retaliate against that state, said they worry about the implications for students and families. “I’m fearful. I think it’s good for states to know there’s federal oversight and that they’ll be held accountable,” the official said. “The concept of leaving special education up to states sounds great, but it’s scary. What happens if one state decides to interpret the law one way, but another state disagrees and interprets it differently?” Multiple sources also questioned the legality of the cuts to OSERS. Federal law requires that there be an Office of Special Education Programs — within the U.S. Department of Education — to manage and oversee special education funding and programs. As such, these sources said, effectively closing the office by firing its staff should require an act of Congress.
Trump funding cuts hit particularly hard for deaf and blind children
Education Week
April Wilson is responsible for teaching 36 students this school year—not squeezed into a single classroom, but spread among 19 school buildings in 12 districts across rural southern Illinois. For her job as one of only two itinerant teachers of the visually impaired, or VI, in all of Illinois, Wilson drives as many as 1,400 miles a month. Not only does she provide instruction for blind students from ages 3 to 21, she has to supply special equipment for them, too—and make sure they, and their teachers, know how to use it.
But the future of her professional development is in jeopardy. On Sept. 5, after business hours on a Friday, the U.S. Department of Education abruptly announced it was discontinuing the federal grant paying for Wilson’s program, along with more than 30 other ongoing grants related to special education totaling nearly $30 million over the next three years.
School Districts That Pursue Awards of Attorneys’ Fees against Plaintiff Parents and Their Attorneys in IDEA Cases Obtain Fees in Only Small Percentage of Cases
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) authorizes courts, at their discretion, to “award reasonable attorneys’ fees… to a prevailing party who is the parent of a child with a disability” in legal actions brought pursuant to the Act. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(3)(B)(i)(I). If a parent prevails on an IDEA claim at the due process administrative hearing level or in court, they can be reimbursed for their attorney’s fees.
The IDEA also includes provisions that allow defendant school districts to be reimbursed for their attorneys’ fees—but only in limited cases. A court can award attorneys’ fees “. . . against the attorney of a parent who files a complaint or subsequent cause of action that is frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation, or . . . who continued to litigate after the litigation clearly became frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation; or . . . against the attorney of a parent, or against the parent, if the parent’s complaint or subsequent cause of action was presented for any improper purpose, such as to harass, to cause unnecessary delay, or to needlessly increase the cost of litigation.” 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(3)(B)(i)(II)–(III).
Professor Perry Zirkel, University Professor Emeritus of Education and Law at Lehigh University, has authored a new article, “Attorneys’ Fees Claims Against Plaintiff Parents and Their Attorneys under the IDEA: The Most Recent Court Rulings,” in which he shares his findings that “the frequency of defendant-district filings for attorney’s fees has dropped significantly in the most recent decade” and that “the odds in favor of districts obtaining at least partial attorneys’ fees awards are consistently low.” Specifically, school districts received “at least a partial attorneys’ fees award in less than 15% of their claims.”
COPAA and CASE Issue Principles in Support of Students with Disabilities, Individuals and Organizations Encouraged to Sign
COPAA and the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) have announced an opportunity for individuals, national, state, and local organizations to join together and affirm a shared commitment to ensuring that children and youth with disabilities receive the education and support fundamental to their growth and development. The principles underscore the dedication to working together and will be shared with policymakers and the media later this month. Please review the seven principles and sign with COPAA and advocates from across the U.S. by Friday, October 17, 2025.
Senate at an Impasse on Fiscal Year 2026; Federal Government in Partial Shutdown
The federal government continues to function under a partial shutdown after Congress failed to advance a short-term continuing resolution (CR) that would serve as a stopgap while debate continues on discretionary funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. Typically, these impasses, where the minority party in the Senate seeks to use its limited leverage to advance its own priorities, result in a negotiated bill where a few concessions are made. However, at this writing, there continues to be no workable deal between Republicans and Democrats. House Speaker Johnson (R-LA) did indicate on Monday that he had met with Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) to discuss bills moving successfully through conference committee “after the initial clean CR is passed.” This has been interpreted by the press to mean that Republicans are holding firm and will not make concessions in the pending deal to address healthcare and other issues on the Democrats’ priority list. Under the shutdown and in the short term, all mandatory programs such as social security, Medicaid, and Medicare, law enforcement activities, and other functions deemed essential by the Administration continue to operate. Federal aid for certain grants that are already underway and formula funds such as Title I and IDEA will continue to flow, but without federal agency staff available to troubleshoot any challenges that may arise. Every agency has a contingency plan in place for the shutdown. You can view the U.S. Department of Education’s plan and find other agency plans on their respective sites.
Federal Appeals Court Temporarily Allows OCR Downsizing
In a decision filed on September 29th, a three-judge panel of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston overruled a lower court decision and temporarily allowed the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to continue reducing Office for Civil Rights (OCR) staff. At issue is whether laying off 264 employees interferes with a mandate from Congress or whether the reduction in force is similar to the Supreme Court decision that allowed for broader ED layoffs across the agency. It is unclear what will happen to the 80 employees already reinstated due to the earlier court decision. In their decision, the three-panel judges stressed that their decision was temporary. Meanwhile, all OCR functions are halted for the duration of the federal government shutdown.
ADHD Is punished in schools. How teachers can flip the script
Education Week
Excessive squirming and fidgeting. Difficulty paying attention. A tendency to act impulsively and make careless mistakes. Trouble acting cooperatively. These hallmark symptoms of childhood ADHD run counter to behavior that teachers welcome in their classrooms. It’s perhaps unsurprising, then, that the estimated 11% of the nation’s children who have the common developmental disorder tend to get punished far more than their classmates. High school students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are twice as likely to get suspended, and five times as likely to be expelled from school, compared to their classmates without ADHD, according to a study of students from nine high schools. Younger students with ADHD feel the effects of school discipline disproportionately, too. One national survey of parents whose children had ADHD, conducted in 2014, found that nearly 6% of boys and 1.5% of girls with the disorder were expelled from preschool. A lack of training for teachers on the best practices for classroom management for students with ADHD is partly to blame, say experts.
Civil rights commissioners mixed on special educator shortage solutions
K-12 Dive
A persistent shortage of special education teachers nationwide is leading to a lack of supports and services needed to help students with disabilities thrive in schools, according to an investigation by a federal civil rights panel.
The growing population of students with disabilities, combined with a lag in special education hiring, “has resulted in a dearth of special educators, thus depriving students with disabilities of their right to a free appropriate public education,” the USCCR report said. The commission’s report, released Monday, finds special education teacher shortages are being caused by a myriad of factors, including both a lack of people interested in the field and retention challenges stemming from demanding workloads, administrative burdens, high student loan debt, and poor working conditions. The possible solutions, the report said, are just as varied. They include streamlined licensure programs to support prospective special educators, expansion of school choice options so that public funding follows students, local initiatives like Grow Your Own programs to increase the number of qualified special educators, and adding incentives to keep veteran teachers in classrooms.
Only 18 states differentiate compensation for special education teachers
K-12 Dive
The lagging number of state policies addressing teacher shortages is exacerbating poor academic outcomes for the growing population of students with disabilities and English learners, according to a new report from the nonprofit National Council on Teacher Quality. As just over two-thirds of students from both of those groups cannot read on grade level, the report released Tuesday said a big part of that challenge stems from the fact that states aren’t doing enough to support educators in special education and English language learning. For instance, only 17 states require that special education teachers pass an “acceptable” reading licensure test, while even fewer — five — mandate the same for those instructing English learners. Additionally, NCTQ found that teacher preparation standards in both areas are disjointed, as most states do not explicitly mandate them. The nonprofit also pointed out that financial incentives for special educators and teachers of English learners can be useful in addressing critical shortages, but many states don’t offer additional compensation.