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Your Voice Is Making an Impact: Tell Congress to Protect Students with Disabilities
In just one week, COPAA has sent over 1500 emails to the U.S. Congress urging support for Medicaid -to ensure eligible students with disabilities have access to school-based services- to ensure investments in the IDEA that support children and families, and to reject...
Senate Committee Advances Linda McMahon as Education Secretary Nominee
Last week in a 12-11 vote, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted to advance the nomination of Linda McMahon for Secretary of Education. Prior to the vote, COPAA CEO Denise Marshall issued a statement expressing “deep concern with the...
ED Instructs Schools to End Racial Preference, Legal Experts Push Back
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) issued a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) advising educational institutions receiving federal funds to cease using race as a factor in admissions, hiring, promotions, compensation, scholarships, discipline, and related areas. The DCL...
This Week: House Hearing to Focus on Federal Investments in Elementary Education
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-H) will conduct a hearing on Wednesday, February 26 to discuss the status of federal investments in elementary education. Chaired by Rep. Robert Aderholdt...
Education Dept. lifts pause on some civil rights probes, but not cases of race, gender discrimination
ProPublica The U.S. Department of Education on Thursday told employees that it would lift its monthlong freeze on investigating discrimination complaints at schools and colleges across the country — but only to allow disability investigations to proceed. That means...
COPAA Submits Amicus Brief to the Ninth Circuit Regarding School Districts’ Obligation To Offer FAPE via an IEP
Earlier this month, COPAA submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in support of the family of a child with a disability, urging the court to reverse the decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California...
What does NAEP show for special education students?
K-12 Dive Math and reading scores declined or held steady for special education students on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress — for both 4th and 8th graders — when compared to NAEP results from 2022 and 2019. The biggest decline came with 2024’s...
Department of Education Halts Thousands of Civil Rights Investigations
ProPublica In the three-and-a-half weeks since Donald Trump returned to the presidency, investigations by the agency that handles allegations of civil rights violations in the nation’s schools and colleges have ground to a halt. At the same time, there’s been a...
What Happens to Students With Disabilities if the Department of Education Were Dismantled?
The Tennessee Tribune COPAA member Heather Eckner shares this column about the potential impact of dismantling the US Department of Education, noting, “The U.S. Department of Education plays a crucial role in ensuring that all students, regardless of background or...
ACT NOW! Tell Congress to Support Medicaid, Protect Children with Disabilities
The House and Senate are negotiating budget resolution bills to support major tax cuts in the pending budget reconciliation package. To pay for the tax credits, the House Budget Committee has asked authorizers to find $880 Billion in cuts, and the Senate Budget...