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Ed Department lays off nearly all special education staff
Disability Scoop Layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education will leave no more than a handful of staffers in the agency’s special education office, jeopardizing oversight of the nation’s programs for students with disabilities, advocates say. The Trump administration...
How will Education Dept. layoffs affect special ed, 504 plans, IEPs?
USA Today Families and educators across the country were plunged into a state of uncertainty over the weekend after the federal Education Department laid off practically every staffer in the government's special education division. Nearly the entire Office of Special...
Trump’s new layoffs hurt disabled kids
Mother Jones Last Friday, all but two senior staff members in the federal Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) received reduction-in-force notices, according to reporting from K-12 Drive. It was part of a scourge of layoffs. 460...
Trump lays off employees in department funding special education
NPR President Trump has talked repeatedly about wanting to return education to the states and that dismantling the Education Department is part of that plan. Eliminating these staff members does not, at this point, cut special education funding to states. But one...
Trump funding cuts hit particularly hard for deaf and blind children
Education Week April Wilson is responsible for teaching 36 students this school year—not squeezed into a single classroom, but spread among 19 school buildings in 12 districts across rural southern Illinois. For her job as one of only two itinerant teachers of the...
VT: Vermont’s special education system under strain
Valley News The percentage of students with disabilities in Vermont’s education system is on the rise, while many school districts lack the capacity to meet their needs, according to a new report released this week by the state Agency of Education. While overall...
WA: WA OEO report shows 17% surge in family calls in 24-25 data
The Olympian The state’s Office of the Education Ombuds last year received the highest number of calls since its founding, according to a recently released OEO annual report. The number of calls for the 2024-25 school year — 1,643 total concerns — represented a more...
School Districts That Pursue Awards of Attorneys’ Fees against Plaintiff Parents and Their Attorneys in IDEA Cases Obtain Fees in Only Small Percentage of Cases
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) authorizes courts, at their discretion, to “award reasonable attorneys’ fees… to a prevailing party who is the parent of a child with a disability” in legal actions brought pursuant to the Act. 20 U.S.C. §...
COPAA and CASE Issue Principles in Support of Students with Disabilities, Individuals and Organizations Encouraged to Sign
COPAA and the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) have announced an opportunity for individuals, national, state, and local organizations to join together and affirm a shared commitment to ensuring that children and youth with disabilities receive...
Senate at an Impasse on Fiscal Year 2026; Federal Government in Partial Shutdown
The federal government continues to function under a partial shutdown after Congress failed to advance a short-term continuing resolution (CR) that would serve as a stopgap while debate continues on discretionary funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. Typically, these...