Chalkbeat

After a federal judge in 2023 ordered city officials to make dozens of reforms to more swiftly provide special education services to families who won legal disputes, top Education Department officials embraced the extra oversight. Yet almost as soon as the order was handed down, the city began to miss deadlines. Now, two years later, the Education Department has failed to comply with most of the order’s requirements. At the time of the ruling, former schools Chancellor David Banks displayed an unusual level of support for a court action targeting his own agency. “We, too, believe that change is long overdue,” he said. “We are moving aggressively to set a new course.” However, out of the 51 steps outlined in the court order issued by Manhattan federal Judge Loretta Preska, the city has implemented just 21 of them, according to a July report from a court-appointed monitor. Some of the requirements are more than a year overdue.