Special Education
Laws & News
Across the States
CO: Bill strengthening protections for students with disabilities signed into law
KOAA
On Friday, Governor Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 125 (SB 125) into law. It strengthens protections for students with disabilities and creates a formal state level complaint process for families when students are denied accommodations.
After signing SB 125 into law, Governor Polis addressed funding in a signing statement: “Unfortunately, SB26-125 charges the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) with enforcement of the law, but only if CDE receives adequate funding in the next two years from gifts, grants, donations, and ‘other agreements for resources,’ including through contracts with third parties or other state agencies.”
TX: Texas’ school discipline push drives kids to ‘jail-like’ DAEP schools
Hechinger Report
Angela Comfort still can’t explain exactly what went wrong. Her son, Jordan, an honors student in Garland, Texas, got in trouble with school officials this February for distributing flyers on campus about a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Students all over North Texas were planning a walkout, and the teen was eager to participate. Instead, administrators suspended him and warned further punishment was possible.
Students with disabilities are more likely to end up in DAEPs, and when they do they are unlikely to get the services and accommodations they are owed under federal law, advocates said. “They’re placed more often. A lot of times we find that they struggle more, and we find that they stay longer,” said Colleen Potts of Disability Rights Texas, a nonprofit legal group. “Not every kid learns the same, and the DAEP does not have the ability to be individualized like the main campus would.”
TX: Texas school police investigation: 5 takeaways
The New York Times
Anabelle Jaramillo’s first and only encounter with the police officers in her Texas high school happened when she was accused of stealing a $13 classroom doorbell in 2024. Anabelle, a 17-year-old honor student, told an assistant principal that she had accidentally knocked the bell loose, she said in an interview. Still, the administrator called the officers, who arrested the teen for theft. When Anabelle pulled away, the officers wrestled her onto her belly and handcuffed her.
The student, who is asthmatic and has panic attacks, gasped for air on the floor for three minutes, video footage shows. Anabelle is among the thousands of students in Texas who have had physical encounters with school police officers in recent years. Many of these interactions have occurred since state lawmakers passed legislation in 2023 requiring an officer on each public school campus.
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TX: From school closures to staff cuts, Texas admins will detail budget woes to lawmakers
Houston Public Media
The influx of nearly $8.5 billion to Texas schools last year did not stop many from cutting programs, eliminating staffing and closing campuses.
On Monday, school leaders from across the state will detail the financial challenges still plaguing their districts roughly a year after receiving the significant increase in funding. The Texas House Public Education Committee hearing will focus on the implementation of House Bill 2, which provided schools with new money for teacher pay, educator training and special education. Lawmakers will gather recommendations on ways to better prepare teachers for careers in the classroom and improve services for children with disabilities.
Lawmakers also approved significant changes to how Texas pays for special education. Districts will soon receive money for students with disabilities based on the needs of each child, as opposed to the classroom setting the school assigns them to. Those changes take effect next school year. The state now must reimburse districts $1,000 for each evaluation of a child suspected of having a disability, which can cost between $1,000 and $5,000 or more to complete. Notably, public schools must conduct and pay for the special education evaluations of families wanting to participate in the new voucher program if they request one. Texas’ voucher program launches next school year, which public school officials have noted could result in additional funding losses if students leave their campuses for other options.
TX: Cy-Fair ISD officer repeatedly used hogtie restraint on fifth grader
One Monday afternoon in October 2023, a Cy-Fair ISD police officer tracked down a fifth-grader who had run away from his school for students with behavioral challenges. The boy had left campus before. But this time when he wouldn’t get in the police car, the officer took an unusual step. He cuffed the boy’s hands, shackled his ankles and bound them together behind his back using a controversial technique known as a “hogtie,” according to internal district records obtained by The Houston Chronicle and The New York Times. Then, the officer left the boy face-down in the backseat of his car for nearly 20 minutes. The hogtie technique has been linked to breathing-related deaths, and many city police departments across the country have banned it.
PA: Philadelphia will end separate support program for some special education students
Chalkbeat
The Philadelphia school district plans to wind down a special education program that separates some students with additional learning needs into their own classrooms. The program, called Intensive Learning Support (ILS), is meant to help students who are significantly behind their peers academically. Classes are generally small, with fewer than 20 students, and include special education interventions along with general curriculum instruction. The district declined to share how many students were in the program this school year. But the district plans to end the program at the end of this school year to educate more special education students alongside their peers, said Nathalie Nérée, the district’s chief of special education and diverse learners. Many ILS students will be placed into general education classrooms, which can have more than 30 students, and will get additional services throughout the school day, she said. “We look at student data, we look at their growth. For the growth of students in intensive learning support, it was minimal to none,” said Nérée. The move, Nérée said, is part of her effort to end Philly’s practice of educating a large share of special education students separately from their peers.
PA: PA districts receive thousands in state grants to encourage special ed careers
pennlive.com
The Pennsylvania Department of Education will award grants to 26 schools to encourage students interested in careers in special education. Education Secretary Carrie Rowe announced the awards as part of the Developing Future Special Educators program. The Shapiro administration awarded more than $1.4 million to 77 school groups in 2024. “Career education programs help students make informed decisions about the next step — whether that’s college, a job, the military or an apprenticeship,” Rowe said. “For students who see themselves leading their own classrooms one day, the Developing Future Special Educators program helps them take that step with confidence.” Schools received grants of up to $20,000 each. They will provide more than 800 high school students with early exposure to careers as special education teachers and opportunities to earn college credits before high school graduation.
CA: What Newsom’s proposed budget means for education in California
Los Angeles Times
Public school districts were winners in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised budget proposal for next year, with boosted funding that includes $2.4 billion in ongoing increases for services to students with disabilities, money that education officials have said is badly needed as the number of children who need extra help grows. Newsom, who overcame dyslexia as a child, called the increase for students with disabilities “the largest investment in special education in California’s history,” adding, “I don’t know that many other states can lay claim to this kind of investment, maybe in American history.”
FL: Jay Collins bashes Byron Donalds on individual learning plans for everyone
Florida Phoenix
Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins unveiled his education agenda on Monday, which includes a rebuke of a proposal by one of his opponents in the Republican race for governor — U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds. In April, Donalds said in a speech in Miami that he wants to “see that every child in the state has an individual learning plan, so we can chart their trajectory towards mastery by the time they graduate high school,” according to the Miami Herald. Individual learning plans, or individualized education plans (IEPs), are traditionally used for students with special needs. An IEP is a written plan for the special education of students with disabilities. Speaking before dozens of supporters during a press conference in Tampa Monday, Collins said: “An IEP for everybody is not a good idea.” “I understand the talking points, but when you get down to the facts of the matter, this plan shifts everything in a negative way,” he said. “It’s an enormous cost. Massive bureaucracy. Defeats the purpose of IEPs.”
GA: Complaints grow over special education services in Georgia schools
WHSV
A growing number of Georgia parents allege their school districts are violating the law by failing to provide required special education services, according to an Atlanta News First investigation. Georgia Department of Education records show formal complaints against school districts have more than doubled in recent years, from 156 in 2021 to 318 last year. In fiscal year 2025, the state found that districts were out of compliance 190 times. The surge in complaints reflects several concerning trends identified by the Georgia Department of Education’s dispute resolution division. A 2025 presentation produced by the division showed more complaints are being filed by current school staff; more complaints are being filed in districts that historically had few complaints; and more complaints involve multiple students, indicating systemic issues.