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TN: LGBTQ+, disabled students face exclusion from private schools
Nashville Banner More than 170 of the 241 Tennessee private schools eligible to receive state-funded vouchers in the first year of the Education Freedom Scholarship program have a publicly listed admission inclusion policy. Many of the schools post a version of this...
Congressional Democrats Decry Dismantling of Disability Labor Protections
A coalition of 56 Democratic lawmakers, led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Reps Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Lateefah Simon (D-CA), sent a letter to Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer condemning what they describe as the “most...
WH Issues EO to Modernize Foster Care System
The White House (WH) has issued an executive order (EO) titled Fostering the Future for American Children and Families. The EO directs federal agencies to modernize the child welfare system and expand support for young people in or leaving foster care. It tasks the...
Special education: Department of Education cuts are leaving kids with disabilities behind
Slate When reduction-in-force notices went out to hundreds of Department of Education employees as part of the shutdown, more than 100 of these DOE workers were part of the team that oversaw special ed around the country. They ensured resources got distributed...
Federal special education staff may get their jobs back. But for how long?
OPB The deal Congress reached to re-open the federal government requires the Trump administration to reinstate federal workers who were fired in October, including those charged with overseeing the nation’s special education laws. But it’s not clear how long they’ll...
As Government Reopens, Ed Department Brings Back Fired Special Education Staffers
Disability Scoop A deal to end the nation’s longest-ever government shutdown is reversing plans to gut the U.S. Department of Education’s special education office and providing funds for other disability programs — at least temporarily. President Donald Trump signed...
Special educator shortages demand tailored solutions, Brookings Institution says
K-12 Dive Some 45 states reported special education teacher shortages in the 2023-24 school year, according to a Learning Policy Institute study from July that Brookings cited. A separate report from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences...
Will Trump policies exacerbate the special education teacher shortage?
K-12 Dive Teacher preparation experts fear ongoing special education teacher shortages will worsen as the Trump administration continues to downsize the U.S. Department of Education. Along with mass layoffs at the federal agency, proposals to consolidate federal...
CT: UConn grapples with the legacy of a CT institution for the disabled
CT Mirror English professor Brenda Brueggemann had driven by the memorial stone, the grassy grove, and the architectural shells of the shuttered institution every day for years on her way to teach at the University of Connecticut. The campus of the former Mansfield...
NC: Charlotte families worry about impact on special needs education programs amid federal layoffs
wcnc.com Charlotte area families are voicing concerns about the future of kids with special needs and their access to a good education after the White House tried to lay off almost all the staffers at the Department of Education who manage those programs. A judge has...