Federal Legislation & News
in Special Education
WH Issues EO to Modernize Foster Care System
The White House (WH) has issued an executive order (EO) titled Fostering the Future for American Children and Families. The EO directs federal agencies to modernize the child welfare system and expand support for young people in or leaving foster care. It tasks the Department of Health and Human Services with improving state-level data collection; updating outdated reporting requirements; advancing the use of modern technology and analytics in foster care management; and publishing annual scorecards measuring state performance on key child welfare outcomes. It also launches a “Fostering the Future” initiative to build public–private partnerships that expand education, employment, and support services for current and former foster youth, including the creation of an online platform, greater flexibility in education vouchers, and better use of returned federal funds. Additionally, the order calls for increasing collaboration with faith-based organizations and ensuring they are not improperly excluded from child-welfare programs. All actions must follow existing law and are subject to available funding.
Special education: Department of Education cuts are leaving kids with disabilities behind
Slate
When reduction-in-force notices went out to hundreds of Department of Education employees as part of the shutdown, more than 100 of these DOE workers were part of the team that oversaw special ed around the country. They ensured resources got distributed equitably, and had been doing that since the ’70s. Now, they are simply not there. A court has put these firings on hold, but that hasn’t made parents feel much better. Pepper Stetler knows this well. Stetler is a professor who writes about education and disability, and her 13-year-old daughter, Louisa, has Down syndrome. It’s not like special ed in this country has been perfect. But for 50 years, it has been there. The federal government has acted as a watchdog, stepping in if states fail to deliver the right to education to disabled children. But even with the government set to reopen, many of the cuts to special education may remain.
Federal special education staff may get their jobs back. But for how long?
OPB
The deal Congress reached to re-open the federal government requires the Trump administration to reinstate federal workers who were fired in October, including those charged with overseeing the nation’s special education laws. But it’s not clear how long they’ll be back. As NPR has reported, the Office for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) inside the U.S. Department of Education is the central nervous system for programs that support students with disabilities. It not only offers guidance to families but also oversees state compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). OSERS can’t do its job without staff, and, according to a new Education Department filing, the office lost 121 of its 135 employees in the October reduction-in-force. That matters because, while Wednesday’s funding agreement will return those workers to “employment status” as of Sept. 30, there appears to be little protecting them after Jan. 30, when that provision expires. “We are concerned special education will cease to exist,” says Jacqueline Rodriguez, CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities.
As Government Reopens, Ed Department Brings Back Fired Special Education Staffers
Disability Scoop
A deal to end the nation’s longest-ever government shutdown is reversing plans to gut the U.S. Department of Education’s special education office and providing funds for other disability programs — at least temporarily. President Donald Trump signed legislation late Wednesday to fund the government, bringing the 43-day shutdown to an end. The spending package funds some things for the year, but will ensure spending for most federal agencies — including the vast majority of disability programs — only through Jan. 30. The agreement also requires the Trump administration to reverse layoffs issued during the shutdown and precludes any similar firings through Jan. 30.
Disability advocates warned that dismantling the special education office — and the resulting lack of federal oversight — put the rights guaranteed to students under IDEA at risk. Already, they said they were hearing that some local officials were asking which parts of IDEA could be ignored since no one in Washington was paying attention.
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Special educator shortages demand tailored solutions, Brookings Institution says
K-12 Dive
Some 45 states reported special education teacher shortages in the 2023-24 school year, according to a Learning Policy Institute study from July that Brookings cited. A separate report from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences found that during the 2021-22 school year, special education vacancies were about twice as likely as vacancies for other teaching positions. To compensate for the shortages and reverse these trends, education experts have been exploring various recruitment and retention solutions. Brookings pointed to a March study from the Learning Policy Institute outlining approaches from four states that included salary increases, residency programs, and support and mentoring efforts. In Indiana, Massachusetts, and Texas, for example, Brookings said “large proportions of special education teachers move into general education teaching positions each year.” While these teachers are not “lost to the system,” initiatives designed to keep special education teachers in special education should be factored in, the authors said.
Will Trump policies exacerbate the special education teacher shortage?
K-12 Dive
Teacher preparation experts fear ongoing special education teacher shortages will worsen as the Trump administration continues to downsize the U.S. Department of Education. Along with mass layoffs at the federal agency, proposals to consolidate federal grants for training special educators are fueling concerns that these moves will exacerbate critical staffing issues. During the 2024-25 school year alone, 45 states reported shortages in special education — the most frequently reported shortage area nationwide, according to Learning Policy Institute. The other most common shortages reported by states include science (41), math (40), language arts (38), world languages (35) and career and technical education (33), LPI found.
COPAA files amicus brief urging the Third Circuit to recognize student’s right to her administratively-ordered “stay-put” placement
Last week, COPAA and several other advocacy organizations filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in support of a student with a disability who is in the foster care system in Y.C.Q. v. Chichester School District. You can read the brief Y.C.Q. v. Chichester here.
In this case, the due process hearing officer agreed with the student and ordered a change in her Individualized Education Program (“IEP”) program and placement. The school district appealed the decision, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania reversed, but in doing so disregarded the student’s “stay-put” right to attend the ordered placement during the pendency of the appeals process. The amicus brief urges the Third Circuit to reverse the district court’s decision and enforce the student’s right to “stay put” under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”).
In the brief, COPAA and its fellow amici explained that an IDEA hearing officer’s placement decision constitutes a legal agreement between the state and the student’s parent / educational decision maker, thus entitling the student to attend that placement as her “then-current educational placement” pursuant to the “stay-put” right set forth in 20 U.S.C. § 1415(j), which operates as an automatic injunction to maintain the student’s placement during the entirety of the litigation, including appeals.
COPAA was joined on the brief by fellow amici the Arc of Greater Pittsburgh, Disability Rights Pennsylvania, Juvenile Law Center, the Public Interest Law Center, Kidsvoice, and the National Disability Rights Network. COPAA Legal Director Selene Almazan and COPAA Amicus Committee Co-Chair Catherine Merino Reisman wrote the brief.
COPAA files amicus brief with the Sixth Circuit supporting parents’ right to sue states in federal court for IDEA violations
On October 30, COPAA and several other organizations, law firms, lawyers, and legal scholars filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Y.A. v. Hamtramck, a case in which a group parents of children with disabilities sued their school district and the Michigan Department of Education for violations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”). You can read the Y.A. v. Hamtramck brief here.
COPAA and its fellow amici urged the Sixth Circuit to affirm the order of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan that denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss and found that the families in this case were not required to exhaust administrative remedies by first filing a due process suit because doing so would have been futile. The District Court concluded that an administrative hearing officer could not order the relief sought by the plaintiffs to remedy the IDEA violations alleged in this case, which involve staffing shortages and other large-scale problems.
The brief also explains that the IDEA establishes a cause of action against states—not just school districts—for the denial of a free appropriate public education (“FAPE”) and that the state “procedurally waived its claim of immunity from suit under IDEA the minute it willingly accepted federal IDEA funds.”
COPAA’s fellow amici include Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, Disability Rights Michigan, Erwin Chemerinsky, Kentucky Protection & Advocacy, Disability Rights Ohio, Disability Rights Tennessee, Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio, Abdnour Weiker, Justin S. Gilbert, Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Northern Kentucky Children’s Law Center, MI AECRES, and National Disability Rights Network. The amicus brief was written by COPAA Legal Director Selene Almazan and COPAA board member and Amicus Committee Co-Chair Ellen Saideman.
Senate Takes Steps to Re-Open Government, Deal Prohibits Federal Layoffs Thru January
On the 42nd day of the longest federal shutdown in U.S. history, the U.S. Senate has attracted bipartisan support for a new deal that could lead to reopening the government. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 proposal -that passed 60-40- will extend government funding through a continuing resolution (CR). The package provides education and other domestic spending funds at current FY 2025 levels for 9 of the nation’s 12 spending bills through January 30, 2026, and it finalizes FY 2026 spending for three federal appropriations bills (Military Construction, Agriculture, Legislative Branch). The Senate CR punts all final appropriations decisions for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and other K-12 programs that come through the Labor-Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-H) appropriations bill into next year. The new Senate deal also reinstates federal workers and prohibits any federally directed layoffs through a reduction in force (RIF) until January 30. This means the RIF conducted by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and other agencies in October cannot go into effect for the duration of the deal through January 30. It also reinforces, consistent with current law, that all furloughed federal employees are to be paid for their time during the shutdown. In exchange for their votes, the eight Democrats who supported the new plan secured a commitment that the Senate would vote by mid-December on extending the expired health care tax credits that have been central to Democrats’ demands. Once the Senate advances the bill, if the House and the White House both agree, federal workers could return to work before the end of the week.
ACT NOW: Tell Congress to Conduct Oversight Hearings to Protect Children with Disabilities
Despite the pending short-term agreement led by the Senate that would allow federal employees to return to work, COPAA remains extremely concerned that the Department of Education (ED) has taken steps to eliminate all but a handful of staff and gut key offices including the Office of Special Education Programs, the Rehabilitation Services Administration, the Office for Civil Rights, the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, and more. These cuts, along with public acknowledgement that options are being explored to move special education programs out of ED, threaten accountability and transparency, along with decades of progress in protecting students with disabilities. The harmful actions threaten the core tenets of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and put the educational access and opportunity for millions of children with disabilities at risk. The Secretary’s actions also stand in direct conflict with the Department’s statutorily required duties under IDEA, and such changes have not been approved by Congress. Given these, immediate oversight by Congress is essential. Tell Congress to conduct oversight hearings. The public deserves to learn how the Secretary plans to fulfill the Department’s full obligations under IDEA and other authorized disability laws.
Disparate Impact Explainer Released
In response to the federal government’s current lack of support for the disparate impact framework, the Legal Defense Fund, Democracy Forward, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and the National Institute for Workers’ Rights have released the Disparate Impact Explainer. Pushing back against Executive Order No. 1428 -which seeks to eliminate disparate impact- the new resource breaks down ways advocates and attorneys can continue to fight and promote fair access to opportunity for women, people of color, people with disabilities, older adults, and others, in contexts ranging from the workplace to housing to education. “Protecting these legal tools is about more than just policy; it is about defending the principle of equal opportunity that moves our communities and our country forward.”
How the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act shaped inclusive education over 50 years
OCDE Newsroom
Fifty years ago this month, a landmark law changed how schools support students with disabilities. On Nov. 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act — the first version of what is now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. Influenced by preceding legal cases like Brown v. Board of Education and PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the new law guaranteed that children with disabilities would have access to a free and appropriate public education alongside their peers. Before the law was enacted, millions of children with disabilities across the U.S. had been excluded from public schools. Some were denied enrollment altogether, while others were placed in separate facilities with few opportunities to learn.
Disability advocates cry foul over dismantling of special ed: ‘Our world is on fire’
Disability Scoop
Efforts to gut the U.S. Department of Education’s special education office and move the program to another agency are already causing “immediate harm” to students with disabilities, advocates warn. Nearly a month after the Education Department moved to lay off nearly every staffer in its Office of Special Education Programs, some of the nation’s most prominent disability and special education groups say that the message from the Trump administration is clear. “Given the recent actions of the administration, the only conclusion that we can draw is that this administration doesn’t believe in educating children with disabilities,” said Chad Rummel, executive director of the Council for Exceptional Children, or CEC.
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Why shifting special ed oversight could be ‘a public education crisis’
K-12 Dive
Special education and disability rights advocates are ramping up their defense of the federal role in the education of students with disabilities as their concerns grow over a potential shift in how the U.S. conducts special education oversight and support. There is still no official plan from the Trump administration to move the duties of special education oversight out of the U.S. Department of Education to another federal agency — possibly the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But over the past week, advocates have sent a flurry of letters and hosted online forums to prevent such a transition.
Despite the staff reductions at the Education Department, Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, advises families to continue filing discrimination complaints with the Office for Civil Rights at the Education Department. “The law is still intact. We must continue to use it,” Marshall said on the press call. “We must work at the state and local levels to be sure that it’s implemented.”
Trump’s Ed. Dept. slashed civil rights enforcement. How states are responding
Education Week
In Pennsylvania, state Sen. Lindsey Williams, a Democrat from the Pittsburgh area, said her office has heard from families with complaints pending before the Education Department, and school districts in the middle of OCR investigations, that haven’t been able to get answers from the agency since the downsizing. Parents and advocates have said largely the same thing in court filings: that investigations in response to complaints they filed have simply stopped.
Williams is drafting legislation that would create a state Pennsylvania office of civil rights in the state’s education department. It would give the state new authorities, and strengthen existing ones, to investigate and enforce federal and state civil rights laws “in the absence of a federal government willing to do so,” Williams wrote in a memo about the bill that’s still in the works.