Special Education
Laws & News
Across the States
CT: CT education officials plan to keep more students in district for special education
CT News Junkie
State education leaders touted increased funding to help towns and cities handle the ever-increasing cost of serving the state’s growing population of special needs students at a forum at Naylor Elementary School in Hartford on Monday. The legislature passed and Gov. Ned Lamont signed Public Act 25-67 into law earlier this year. The omnibus bill tackles several areas of special education and provides $30 million for each year of the biennial budget in Special Education Expansion and Development, or SEED, grants to equalize special education spending around the state. State Rep. Maryam Khan, D-Windsor, co-chair of the General Assembly’s select committee on special education, said it was important to keep students with special needs in their home districts. “This grant encourages inclusion,” she said. “It encourages districts to invest in special education programming in their school buildings, like this one, to help keep students in-house as much as possible.”
GA: Georgia’s first Special Education PTSA recruiting members
FOX 5 Atlanta
The Georgia Special Education PTSA, the first of its kind in the state, is now recruiting members. Organizers say the group was created to address a gap in advocacy and resources for special education families. The PTSA is part of the statewide PTA, but this organization is dedicated entirely to the issues, rights, and opportunities surrounding students with disabilities. The group plans to provide workshops, peer support networks, and legislative updates, while also pushing for broader awareness around inclusion and accommodations in Georgia schools. Membership is open not only to parents, but also to educators, support staff, and community advocates.
NC: Group files complaint over JCPS’ reduced schoolday for student with autism
WRAL.com
State officials are investigating a complaint from a legal nonprofit that Johnston County Public Schools kept a high school student with autism out of school or away from their peers in violation of federal law. Disability Rights of North Carolina believes the matter is part of a larger pattern of mishandling the education of students with autism in the Johnston County school district, though the state disagreed earlier this year and is declining to investigate whether the district has a systemic problem. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction investigated the group’s claim of systemic issues earlier this year, when the group filed complaints on behalf of three other students at other schools. The department confirmed violations related to two of those three students, though it’s unclear what those violations were. The department told WRAL News that it is investigating the group’s newest complaint, but is not opening up an investigation into system issues because the complaint fails to demonstrate a “policy, practice, or procedure” that resulted in similar issues across the district.
WI: Madison West students with disabilities swim in their first meet after being cut
WMTV15
Asha Shukla and Aurelia Bergstrom made a splash in their first home meet and are back on the swim team at Madison West. Both athletes have disabilities, and were told that too many girls were trying out for the team. Asha Shukla had been on the team for 2 years and began her senior year this fall. Students, parents, and the community rallied for the girls to have the opportunity to be on the team again. At a school board meeting, concerns were brought forward. The following Friday, the students learned they could head back to the pool. On Friday, Madison West held a home meet against the Verona Area School District. While this was not the first meet of the season, it was the first that Asha and Aurelia could swim in. “It was awesome,” said Asha following her race. The girls raced in an exhibition race in the 50-yard freestyle JV heat. Asha says the best part about swimming is being there with her friends.
CT: Several Connecticut special education programs failed to provide services during 2022-23 school year: state audit
Yahoo News
The State of Connecticut released an audit on Wednesday, Sept. 10, showing that private providers of special education did not fully deliver the required services, and showed deficiencies that threatened the quality and safety of learning for children during the 2022-23 school year.
ID: Special education parents say kids are falling through the cracks of Idaho schools
Boise State Public Radio
“We’re failing our kids.” That’s a quote from a Fruitland mom who says her daughter and other kids who need special education are falling through the cracks in Idaho. A new investigation has learned that more and more parents are filing lawsuits against Idaho, saying the state is failing to give their kids the special education they need, while officials say they don’t have the money or the personnel to meet the needs of these children.
IL: Chicago board of education raises concerns about special education staffing
Chalkbeat
Chicago Board of Education members are calling for more transparency from the district on cuts and changes being made to special education staffing positions. “Our parents are saying that their children are not receiving their services,” said elected board member Jitu Brown in an interview with Chalkbeat. “So these cuts have hit the classroom, and it’s not acceptable to bake that into what education is going to look like this entire school year.”
Over the summer, the district’s Office for Students with Disabilities cut staffing and made changes within the department. In the second week of school, about 200 students with disabilities had yet to be placed in a classroom. CPS officials said Thursday that 285 are awaiting placements, including students who qualified since the start of the school year. “You have schools where children don’t have a special education instructor after a month into the school year. You’ve seen the loss in the combination of special ed teachers and SECAs,” Brown said.
IN: How does this acclaimed Indiana charter school keep halls calm? Suspending students
Mirror Indy
Thirteen-year-old Levent goes to an Indianapolis middle school that’s been celebrated for its test scores. But his mother, Shania, says he’s falling behind because the school has suspended him repeatedly. Levent has ADHD, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, which his school has documented as a disability. Shania believes it drives much of the behavior that he has been disciplined for — including safety concerns like leaving campus and misbehavior like repeatedly disrespecting teachers. “Why is he getting in trouble for what ADHD looks like?” Shania said.
Levent is a student at Paramount Englewood Middle School, part of a growing charter network. Among children of color and those from low-income families, students at Paramount often outperform their peers on state tests. On the strength of those results, supporters have urged Indianapolis Public Schools to partner with the network. But the approach comes at a cost for some students: a WFYI analysis of 2024-2025 state data shows that Paramount schools suspended students with disabilities about three times more often than the state average. Reddicks said Paramount schools work to reduce suspensions among students with disabilities, but that they’re sometimes necessary. “You know, a lot of our special education incidents typically involve safety of others or safety of the students in question,” he said.
MT: Montana advocates worry about federal impacts on support for students with disabilities
KFF Health News
In August, a federal judge in Montana approved a settlement between the state’s education agency and disability rights advocates that will enable eligible Montana students to continue receiving special education services through age 22. Despite existing legal precedent and recent attempts at a legislative fix, Montana remained one of the last states where local school districts could disenroll students with special needs after age 18. Now students are guaranteed an additional four years of public school eligibility and, by extension, access to school-based services that have helped recent graduates like Jette move toward independence.
NH: Court extends temporary restraining order on anti-DEI certification by schools
InDepthNH.org
The US District Court Wednesday extended its temporary restraining order blocking the state from enforcing its prohibition on “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs in public schools, colleges and universities or their contractors until Oct. 2 at 11:59 p.m.
The Department of Education gave public school districts until Sept. 5 to file compliance reports certifying if they engaged in DEI related activities, used state money for those activities and if they have contracts containing DEI related provisions they would lose all state funding. The new law passed this year as part of the state budget, sets a deadline of Sept. 30 for school districts to file reports, while a letter from the Department of Education to school districts sets the Sept. 5 deadline.
The plaintiffs argued the new law contradicts federal civil rights laws protecting the rights of students with disabilities, violates the First Amendment rights of educators and students, and is unlawfully vague and ambiguous under the United States and New Hampshire constitutions.