Special Education
Laws & News
Across the States
AZ: Displacement of students, school evaluations violate federal law, Arizona Education Agency say
US News
The Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind violated federal disability law last spring when it restricted placement options for students and predetermined where they should attend, the Arizona State Department of Education says. As it prepared to shut its west-side Tucson campus and move 15 miles away to Oro Valley, ASDB told its blind and low-vision students, along with those who lived in ASDB’s school dorms, they must attend a school within their home district starting in the 2026-27 school year. In a July 10 letter to ASDB Superintendent Annette Reichman, the state says families were not given all the options for where to place their students this coming school year, and that ASDB did not comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. According to the letter, the department of education “concludes that (ASDB) predetermined the placement of students and similarly situated students who are blind, visually impaired or receiving residential services for the 2026-27 school year in violation of the regulations that implement the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.”…
GA: Georgia first-grader with autism suspended over sandwich incident sparks special education debate
Cleveland.com
A Georgia family says its 6-year-old son with autism was suspended from school after biting his sandwich into the shape of a gun and pretending to point it at another student during lunch, an incident the parents argue reflects a broader pattern of discipline that failed to take the child’s disability into account, according to Atlanta News First. The family says the first grader at Sara Harp Minter Elementary School in Fayette County has repeatedly faced disciplinary action despite having an individualized education program, or IEP, designed to address his needs, The Daily Mail reported. According to school disciplinary records reviewed by Atlanta News First, the student accumulated more than 30 disciplinary incidents since 2023, including multiple suspensions, according to WALB. The records include allegations involving physical altercations with classmates, making gun noises while pointing a water bottle and drawing a picture depicting a pilgrim shooting a turkey. The sandwich-related suspension occurred during the previous school year…
IA: ACLU of Iowa urges schools to get rid of School Resource Officer programs
CBS2 Iowa
A new report from the ACLU of Iowa says federal data shows Black students and students with disabilities are disproportionately referred to law enforcement and arrested in Iowa schools. The ACLU said about one-quarter of Iowa schools have a school resource officer, or SRO. Those law enforcement officers are typically assigned to schools to assist with security, mentor students and prevent crime. “A black student in Iowa is referred to law enforcement at twice the rate of all other students that are not black and arrested at nearly four times the rate of all other students that are not black,” said Jacob Sarasin, an attorney and legal fellow with the ACLU of Iowa. “Despite again no evidence of behavioral differences. Students with disabilities is referred to law enforcement or arrested at 2.3 times the rate of a student without disability.”…
NC: Funding model for students with disabilities leaves some N.C. schools scrambling
Border Belt Independent
Bladen County school officials said in January the district would need an additional $1 million to educate students with disabilities last school year. Cheryl White-Smith, the district’s inclusive education director, told school board members the number of students in the exceptional children’s program increased by more than 100 over the last decade. Meanwhile, she said, the costs of providing occupational, speech and other therapies have skyrocketed. Local Superintendent Jason Atkinson blamed the deficit on the way North Carolina funds exceptional children’s programs. The state pays $5,309 per student enrolled in the services, but limits funding to 13% of a district’s total student population. If the number of students exceeds that cap, the district has to pay the difference. Across the state, 102 of the 115 public school districts exceed the cap, according to data from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. In Bladen County Schools, 17% of students were enrolled in exceptional children’s services last school year. “This is a systemic issue,” Atkinson said during the school board meeting in January. “Most districts are dealing with the same issues we are.” Many district leaders and public school advocates had hoped the General Assembly would lift the funding cap when it passed a long-awaited state budget this summer. But lawmakers kept it in place while touting other education spending, including 8% average teacher raises over the next two years…
PA: PPS spent $1.4M settling special education disputes over 5 years
Pittsburgh’s Public Source
PPS has spent nearly $1.4 million over the past five years on settlements and parents’ legal fees in special education disputes, according to data obtained by Public Source through a Right-to-Know Law request. That figure excludes fees paid to the district’s primary legal counsel, Weiss Burkardt Kramer, which said it could not separate settlement-related costs from other billable services. During the same period, PPS spent more than $1.4 million on compensatory education for students with disabilities whose education was disrupted during COVID. Some cases end in resolutions through Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings or state mediations. School districts often settle with parents to provide compensatory education. Few cases go to a formal due process hearing. “Settlements, while they will resolve an individual case, the barriers remain, and without those barriers being addressed, it continues,” said Cindy Duch, parent training and information director at the PEAL Center…
NY: How NYC is fixing its patchwork response to students who struggle to attend school
Chalkbeat
New York City’s Education Department is changing how it responds to students who are chronically absent due to school avoidance, according to an agreement officials signed last week with the legal team that filed a class-action lawsuit over the issue. School avoidance, or school refusal as it’s sometimes called, is when students miss large stretches of school because of social or emotional disabilities, such as severe anxiety or depression. The lawsuit, filed in October 2024 on behalf of four students with disabilities who stopped regularly attending school, claimed the nation’s largest school system had no policies or procedures to ensure students received the “free appropriate public education” they were entitled to under federal law. The city spent more than a year hashing out an agreement with attorneys from the Legal Aid Society and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. The agreement signed Friday creates systemwide guidance and support, including a new mandate that every school across the five boroughs designate a school avoidance liaison…
UT: Lawsuit prompts changes to Alpine School District’s special education program after abuse
2KUTV
The parents of a special needs student who was abused by a school bus driver say their lawsuit against the Alpine School District was never about financial compensation. Instead, they wanted to bring lasting changes to how the district serves students with disabilities. As part of the settlement, the district agreed to an independent review of its special education program. The review, conducted by the consulting firm Blind Mule, identified 17 areas for improvement and established oversight that will continue for at least five years. “We want to see our children thrive because these kids have so much to offer,” said Steve Zolman, whose son, Adam, was abused by a school bus driver. The driver later pleaded no contest and was sentenced to probation. Rather than focusing on the abuse alone, the Zolman family said they hoped the lawsuit would lead to broader reforms…
TX: In ‘limbo’: North Texas family’s legal battle with school district could affect special ed statewide
KERA News
Shannon Harriman is careful when he talks about his son, Kelton Lightfoot. Harriman describes his son as a funny 17-year-old who wants to get a job, learn how to drive and spend time with the family’s gentle black labrador retriever, Hudson. For all of his affection and devotion to Kelton, there’s also exhaustion, frustration and concern. “A lot of times, it is good,” Harriman said. “[He] can be funny and great to be around. It’s just when it’s bad, it’s sometimes really bad.” Kelton’s intellectual and behavioral development has been significantly affected by a traumatic brain injury he sustained when he was two weeks old. Harriman said Kelton’s disabilities manifest mostly in his behaviors — which can often be violent. “He can go from being happy to spitting on you, to hitting, throwing things, threatening you with knives, a lot of verbal escalation as well,” he said. For several years, Harriman has split his time and energy between his job in IT and trying to ensure his son has the resources he needs. That’s how Kelton became the center of a legal battle that could have far-reaching implications for accessible education across Texas…
MO: Special School District ends seclusion, limits restraints under new student safety policies
First Alert 4
The Special School District of St. Louis County is implementing new policies ahead of the upcoming school year to improve student safety and ensure that students with disabilities are treated with greater dignity in the classroom. The changes follow a U.S. Department of Justice investigation released in February that found the district violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by using seclusion and restraint. According to the report, investigators found that hundreds of students were placed in seclusion more than 4,000 times. More than 100 students were also physically restrained more than 700 times. Under the updated policies, the district will eliminate the use of seclusion rooms and prohibit face-up (supine) restraints. Physical restraints may still be used, but only when a student poses an immediate danger of harming themselves or others, according to the district.
NY: NYC public schools lost out on staggering $431.6M in Medicaid payouts: audit
NY Post
Big Apple public schools lost out on a staggering $431.6 million in Medicaid cash, failing to collect federal reimbursements on services for students with disabilities, according to a new audit by the city comptroller’s office. The report spanning fiscal years 2023-25 found the city’s public schools left $273.4 million — roughly 46% of total provided services in occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy for students — on the table. An additional $132.7 million in mandated services for disabled students was never properly documented, the comptroller’s office found…