On Tuesday, July 7, COPAA released States Are Failing to Meet Their Obligations to Students Under IDEA: An Analysis of State Monitoring Reports by the U.S. Department of Education, which examines recent State monitoring reports released by the U.S. Department of Education (Department). COPAA undertook the report to better understand the impact of the Department’s actions on legally required functions, including its duty to ensure that States lawfully monitor and oversee programs and the use of Federal funds provided under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in school districts. “A core obligation of the Department is providing strict oversight of IDEA implementation to ensure states are held accountable for delivering special education,” noted Chris Roe, COPAA State Policy Director and report author. “Our rigorous review of State monitoring reports reveals systemic flaws. Quite simply, States do not have the infrastructure or capacity to effectively police themselves. The Administration’s current strategy of ‘returning authority to the states’ ignores this reality and abdicates the Federal responsibility to protect vulnerable students.” Among the key findings are that States continue to fail to demonstrate the will or capacity to monitor IDEA effectively; States show a pattern of noncompliance with IDEA that exposes how ineffective and weak States are in supervising school district compliance; States are not responsibly overseeing the billions of dollars appropriated annually by Congress to support students with disabilities; and, the Department reduced onsite monitoring to just two States per year in 2025 and 2026, a dramatic drop from approximately 10 States monitored each year in prior years. “A lack of state oversight invites schools to take shortcuts with the IDEA, placing an unfair burden on parents to police the very systems meant to support them,” said Denise Marshall, COPAA CEO. “The findings make it clear: the Department is failing in its core duty to oversee IDEA implementation in States. We call upon Congress to protect vulnerable students by defending the integrity of the IDEA, as well as students’ opportunities and rights.”