Special Education
Laws & News
Across the States
CO: This specialized Colorado school faces scrutiny for improperly restraining students
Chalkbeat
Mark Brostrom’s 11-year-old son was struggling in public school when his school district suggested what seemed like a better fit: a new specialized school near the family’s home. Brostrom remembers thinking that the Austin Centers for Exceptional Students in Westminster could offer the flexibility that his son, who has autism, needed to thrive. A bright boy who scores well on tests, his son also sometimes responded to stress by destroying property or harming himself, his father said. But Brostrom quickly became disillusioned with The ACES, as the school calls itself. His son, whom Chalkbeat is not naming to protect his privacy, experienced multiple restraints, including one that the 11-year-old called “the crucifixion,” Brostrom said. The boy described being pinned to the floor on his back with staff members holding his arms and legs, a situation that his father said only made the boy struggle harder.
The ACES is what Colorado calls a facility school, a placement of last resort for students with intense behavioral, mental health, or special education needs whom public schools can’t or won’t serve. As the number of facility schools dwindled, state lawmakers in 2023 created a new, less clinical category called a “specialized day school” — opening the door for providers like The ACES. Now, less than two years after opening, the school faces state sanctions and a potential loss of funding after complaints about how it physically restrains students, suggesting the state’s changes meant to grow the number of facility schools lacked adequate safeguards.
CT: Westport parents demand independent special education review
Westport Journal
A newly released Request for Proposals to critique the district’s special education program is not sitting well with parents who insist the selected consultant be independent and not hand-picked by district administrators who oversee the program. “We need the board to oversee the scope and choose the consultant,” said Vivian Hsu, one of a half dozen speakers who spoke at the start of the school board meeting on Thursday. “That is the only way to guarantee a truly independent evaluation.” The parents have collected more than 560 signatures on an online petition asking for the same. Earlier that day, on the very bottom of the district website’s bid page, a five-page solicitation was posted for firms willing to conduct a comprehensive, system-level review of the district’s special education programs and services.
At the meeting Thursday, Michelle Vitulich, a parent, said the RFQ, though detailed, does not address parent concerns. She asked that the document be amended and said the district can not rely on the state alone to provide meaningful oversight.
Note: COPAA member and Change Maker graduate Michelle Vitulich is quoted in this story.
GA: Statesboro mother advocates for special education changes after son comes home with unexplained injuries
WTOC
A Statesboro mother says her non-verbal son with autism came home from school with unexplained bruises and scratches, and she has struggled to get answers about how the injuries happened. Chanier Morales is an 18-year-old non-verbal autistic student at Statesboro High School. His mother, Yesenia Leon, acts as his voice and advocate. After filing several complaints with Bulloch County Schools and the Statesboro Police Department, she is making her concerns public. “We should not be, as parents, double-thinking if our kids are safe,” Leon said. Chanier returned from school with noticeable marks, scratches, and bruising. When Leon asked staff about the nature of the injuries, she was met with the same responses — that Chanier had self-injured or that staff did not see the incident occur. With no answers and little documentation, Leon grew alarmed.
Before the school year ended, Leon made the decision to pull Chanier out of school. Now she is pushing for changes to protect students like Chanier. Her requests include increased transparency and the introduction of cameras in special education classes. In Georgia, schools are legally allowed to install cameras in special education classes. However, the decision is left up to the county.
NY: When the school bus doesn’t come: One family’s story
Chalkbeat
Constant delays. No-shows. Missed class. Roughly 145,000 New York City students, 43% of whom have disabilities, rely on yellow bus service to get to school each day. It’s a sprawling system with 9,000 routes operated by more than 50 different companies at a cost of more than $2 billion a year. But sometimes, the buses don’t arrive at all. Parents are often unable to track buses or contact busing companies, forcing many families to pay out of pocket for cabs or keep their kids home from school.
OR: Most Oregon preschoolers with disabilities now learn alongside non-disabled peers
The oregonian
Oregon now includes most preschoolers with disabilities or special health needs in regular preschools or other early learning settings, a big switch from just five years ago, when nearly two-thirds of such children attended programs exclusively for kids with special needs. State education leaders celebrated that win recently, noting it was the result of a years-long drive to allow young children of differing abilities to learn and develop side by side. “Every child deserves to learn, play and grow alongside their peers with the individualized support they need to thrive,” Charlene Williams, Oregon’s state schools chief, said in a statement.
PA: Rising special education costs hit PA school districts as federal funding fails to keep pace
fox43.com
As school districts across Pennsylvania finalize their budgets, many are facing difficult financial decisions tied to the rising cost of special education services. Educators and school leaders say growing enrollment, increasingly complex student needs, years of federal underfunding and recent cuts to federal special education programs are putting pressure on local budgets and taxpayers. According to the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), the percentage of public-school students receiving special education services has increased from about 15% to nearly 21% over the past decade, representing roughly 350,000 students statewide. “Many of these students also have more complicated needs and services that are required for them to be in those schools learning,” said Chris Lilienthal, spokesperson for the PSEA.
TX: Another Houston-area school district is consolidating special education programs for the upcoming school year
Houston Public Media
As Houston ISD faces a federal civil rights investigation over its plans to consolidate special education services, another large district in the region is making similar changes to how it serves students with disabilities. Cy-Fair ISD, the third-largest school district in Texas, has quietly consolidated several of its special education programs for the upcoming school year. The “Adaptive Behavior” program, which services students with emotional and behavioral difficulties, was offered at as many as 14 elementary schools in Cy-Fair ISD this year. However, starting this August, the program will be offered at eight campuses, according to a district spokesperson. The latter move will require transferring students to new campuses to access the specialized programs. District spokesperson Joel Weckerly said the consolidations of the early childhood program will affect approximately 200 students, and another 40 will be affected by the adjustments to the behavior program that caters to students in kindergarten and higher grade levels.
WV: Coalition urges immediate pause on West Virginia school closures
WCHS-TV
School closures and consolidations have impacted many areas in West Virginia, with nearly 20 schools currently at risk of closing their doors. Together for Public Schools West Virginia is a coalition that is now urging state lawmakers to put an immediate pause on school closures to give enough time to make changes to the school aid funding formula after no changes came from the legislative session. “We’re asking for a relief fund for small and rural schools to support them while they’re getting the funding formula figured out,” Together for Public Schools volunteer Avery Thrush said. Thrush said this pause could prevent closures.
This year, state lawmakers spent $114,000 on a study regarding the current formula. Researchers recommended the state give more money to districts with higher numbers of students in special education and to put more constraints on the Hope Scholarship. Ultimately they did not use this feedback to push any bills across the finish line. County school boards were even working alongside the Legislature and the State Department of Education to start a special education fund, which fell through. “We’re harming our students with disabilities, we’re harming our rural students and we’re harming our littles in elementary school who are having to get on these buses and go far distances,” Thrush said.
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.”