Special Education
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Across the States
LA: Judge ends federal oversight of special education in New Orleans schools
Louisiana Illuminator
More than a decade of federal oversight of special education in New Orleans charter schools has ended, following a March 31 decision by U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey to terminate a sweeping consent judgment, which went into effect in early 2015. That consent judgment resulted from a class-action lawsuit filed by parents of charter school students against the Louisiana Department of Education. In the years after Hurricane Katrina, the state took over the majority of the city’s schools, converting them from traditional, district-run schools to quasi-autonomous charters, whose day-to-day operations are managed by private, nonprofit groups. The Orleans Parish School Board, which has since taken over the regulation of nearly all of the city’s schools, was later added as a co-defendant.
After years of good marks from a court-appointed independent monitor, the Orleans Parish School Board and the Department of Education formally requested release from federal monitoring. But parents of students with disabilities and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which represents the plaintiffs, had asked the court to continue the consent judgment, saying the city’s schools were not ready to come out from under federal oversight.
During an informal hearing before Zainey in November, called to hear parents’ concerns about the potential termination of the consent decree, dozens of people alleged that their children had been subjected to violations of federal special education law, despite federal monitoring. Plaintiffs said that the school district and state still lacked robust internal monitoring and oversight of New Orleans charters for the consent decree to end. But Zainey disagreed. Though problems with special education persist at some schools, the consent decree was primarily intended to address systemic issues — and whether the state and district are catching problems and implementing plans to correct them — rather than individual students’ experiences. “Most if not all of the individual problems raised could not plausibly be traced to a systemic failure, and some problems, while causing palpable frustration to class members, did not necessarily constitute a violation of federal law,” Zainey wrote in his ruling terminating the consent judgment this week.
LA: Some charter schools are pooling their resources to improve special education
WWNO
After years of planning, New Orleans’ school district is bringing its independent charter schools together to share funds and centralize some services. About a dozen are participating this school year. Charters can join the district’s educational service agency for an annual fee — $14,500 this year — to coordinate services, streamline planning, and reduce costs. Membership includes access to a technology library at the district’s West Bank office, where schools can borrow equipment, including communication devices like the one Juan uses, as well as other high- and low-tech tools. The partnership also includes joint contracts with outside therapists, access to the district’s special education staff, and professional development.
NH: Advocates worry universal open enrollment will exclude students with disabilities
The Keene Sentinel
In Wisconsin, school districts last year rejected open-enrollment applications from students with disabilities at twice the rate of those from other students. In Nebraska, dozens of school districts exclusively denied applications to students with disabilities during the 2023-24 school year, while accepting others. And in Connecticut, a state investigation last year found that its career and technical high schools were disproportionately denying access to students with disabilities, in violation of state and federal law. Disability advocates in New Hampshire warn that a controversial universal open enrollment bill now under consideration would expose students with special education needs to the same pattern of exclusion here.
DC: DC Schools discriminated against students with disabilities, OCR finds
The 74
The District of Columbia Public Schools violated the civil rights of students with disabilities and created an “adversarial system,” that often forces families to sue in order for their kids to receive services, the U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday. After a yearlong investigation, the department’s Office for Civil Rights said the district must create a new division focusing on students with disabilities, improve transportation services for those students, and take steps to better identify and accommodate their needs. “The district must take immediate action to remedy their violations and protect the rights of current and future students to a free and appropriate public education,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement. The proposed resolution agreement also requires the district to train staff, including bus drivers, on any updated policies. If officials don’t agree to the terms, OCR “may initiate enforcement,” the announcement said.
The district, which said from the outset that it would cooperate with the department, is “carefully reviewing” the findings, a spokesman said, adding that OCR makes important points about providing clear information to parents and getting their children to and from school.
With OCR largely focusing its resources on investigating districts that allow students to compete in sports or use bathrooms based on gender identity, the D.C. investigation is one of the few disability-related cases it has launched and completed since President Donald Trump returned to office.
LA: LA GATOR serves many poor students, few with disabilities
nola.com
Nearly all of the students who participated in Louisiana’s new private choice program come from low-income families, but just 4% have diagnosed disabilities, according to state data.
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MI: Advocates want more resources to boost inclusion of special education students
Spartan Newsroom
Michigan spends about $2.8 billion annually on special education, yet outcomes for students with disabilities remain uneven and among the lowest in the nation, according to a recent benchmark report from the Autism Alliance of Michigan. Advocates say improving inclusion and support systems is key to closing those gaps. “Just having students in the general education setting is not the only step,” said Heather Eckner, the director of statewide education for the Southfield-based alliance. “That’s step one. The other steps are providing the support so they can actually access that education,” she said.
Under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, public schools are expected to educate most students with disabilities in general classrooms for at least 80% of the school day when appropriate. Michigan is close to that goal, Eckner said, but outcomes such as graduation rates and dropout rates remain concerning. “We’re close to the aim of the federal law,” she said. “However, our outcomes for students with IEPs (Individualized Education Programs) remain among the lowest in the nation.” In Michigan, students with disabilities drop out at more than twice the rate of their peers, according to the report.
NC: Wake school board to meet over $18 million special education cut
Durham Herald Sun
Wake County school board chair Tyler Swanson has scheduled a special board meeting on Tuesday to discuss a controversial proposed $18 million cut to the special education budget. This week, school administrators announced the cut, which will result in the elimination of 130 special education teaching positions. Swanson said the board needs to discuss the issue “to ensure transparency and accountability regarding the $18 million deficit in our special education budget.” “As a former special education teacher, I am deeply concerned about the impact this will have on our students, our educators, and our broader school community,” Swanson said in a statement Friday on his Facebook page. “These are not just numbers on a page — this is about real support, real services and real outcomes for children who depend on us.”
WI: Vos says he’s open to boosting special education funding as part of plan to spend budget surplus
State Affairs Pro
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Assembly Democrats’ $1.3 billion proposal to spend down the state’s surplus “wasn’t serious,” but he was “open to” spending more on special education. Democrats on Monday proposed to increase general school aid by $445.9 million and raise the special education reimbursement to 60%. “The challenge the Assembly Democrats have is it’s been so long since many of them have been involved in governing,” Vos said, adding, “It basically took the entire surplus and put it into funding special ed – which, frankly, I’m open to that idea, to some extent,” Vos said at a WisPolitics luncheon any potential deal would have to include property tax relief. But he said there should be a 50-50 split between state investment and tax relief. He also said he would be open to backfilling the current budget to reach the 42% and 45% special ed reimbursement targets the Legislature planned to meet but fell short of after cost projections were revised.
CA: Special education has become a flash point in negotiations with teachers
EdSource
When more than 90% of San Diego Unified School District teachers voted to authorize a strike, it wasn’t just about pay increases or health care benefits — it was about special education caseloads that some teachers say are pushing them out of the profession. Salary and health care are still central at the bargaining table, but the working conditions of special education teachers have become a major point of friction in labor negotiations with teachers this school year. It was also a sticking point for high-profile teacher strikes in West Contra Costa and San Francisco. The role of special education at the bargaining table is different in every district in California, said Naj Alikhan, senior director of marketing and communications for the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA).“While issues at the table are different around the state, it is fair to say that the cost of serving our students with special needs is a cost pressure that is impacting everyone,” said Alikhan.
N.J. education challenges 2026: What Sherrill must address
nj.com
Special education advocates also say Sherrill’s administration needs to consider making major changes to how funding is distributed for students with disabilities. The special education portion of the formula sends too much money to some districts and not enough to others, said Peg Kinsell, director of public policy at SPAN Parent Advocacy Network, an organization that supports families of students in special education. There are almost 250,000 students with disabilities in New Jersey schools. Rather than look at each district’s enrollment numbers for this group, the state’s school funding formula uses a statewide average based on Census data. Last year, Gov. Phil Murphy’s budget used special education enrollment numbers instead of the average to determine how much money to send to each district. But this change is not permanent or part of the law and Kinsell said it didn’t go far enough.