WRAL.com

Special education services still aren’t adequate in North Carolina’s public schools, according to a new federal report. The report, conducted earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Education and noticed in June, is the latest to label state’s special education services as in need of assistance and oversight from the federal government — a designation the department has held several times over the past decade.

The assessment, which examined the 2024-25 school year, faults the state’s public schools for several things:

• not evaluating students for a disability and setting an individualized education plan (IEP) for them, if needed, in a timely manner (74%).
• students with disabilities performing worse on exams than the year before, especially students of color.
• not making individualized special education plans in time for preschoolers.
• inadequately preparing older students for life after high school.
• inadequately surveying families for satisfaction and former students for their post-school outcomes.
• not resolving all findings of noncompliance within a year.

Many are repeat concerns. Families of and advocates for students with disabilities say it’s the result of underfunding, a scenario affecting more than 200,000 students in North Carolina. “The system is under enormous strain,” Christopher Roe, director of state policy at the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, told WRAL in an interview.