Federal Legislation & News
in Special Education
COPAA and Partners Demand Information and Transparency from the Department of Education
As millions of students prepare to return to school, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) still hasn’t explained how it will protect students’ civil rights and special education rights after announcing plans to transfer major responsibilities to other federal agencies. Last week, the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL), and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) demanded transparency and advanced a sweeping legal effort to force transparency from the Department. On Friday, NCYL filed two lawsuits in federal court in response to the Department’s repeated failure to comply with the Freedom of Information Act’s (FOIA) statutory deadlines for responding to public records requests.
The first lawsuit, filed jointly with COPAA, seeks records about the Office for Civil Rights’ processing of disability discrimination complaints amid growing concerns about staffing reductions and enforcement capacity. The second lawsuit, filed by NCYL, seeks records responsive to four separate FOIA requests concerning the Department’s handling of civil rights complaints, the release of the Civil Rights Data Collection for 2023-24, and communications with outside organizations regarding federal education.
“Students with disabilities deserve an equitable, discrimination-free education. When discrimination based on disability occurs, there must be a process to investigate and address it,” said Selene Almazan, Legal Director at COPAA. “Students and families also deserve accountability, which depends entirely on the transparency FOIA guarantees. The Department’s inaction on these requests directly blocks that transparency, and this cannot stand.”
Read the full press release here.
NCLD Leads Lawsuit to Protect Special Education Research Funding
Protect Democracy and Jacobson Lawyers Group have filed a lawsuit on behalf of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and other organizations challenging actions by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Department of Education, and senior federal officials for withholding hundreds of millions of dollars appropriated by Congress for education research, data collection, technical assistance, and program evaluation. The plaintiffs argue that the Constitution gives Congress—not the executive branch—the authority to determine federal spending and that delaying or withholding these funds unlawfully undermines programs administered through the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). According to the lawsuit, the funding delays reduce the research, evidence, and technical support available to states, school districts, educators, and families, ultimately affecting equitable access for students with disabilities. The suit alleges violations of federal appropriations law, the Antideficiency Act, and the Constitutional separation of powers, and seeks to compel the release and obligation of the appropriated funds as required by law.
House Committee Advances Bills to Move Education Programs to Other Agencies, Special Education and Civil Rights Offices Not Included
Last week, the House Education and the Workforce Committee held a markup to amend and vote on the “Less Bureaucracy, Better Education” legislative package. The package consists of 10 bills to permanently move certain K-12, higher education, adult education, and career and technical education programs from the Department of Education (ED) to other agencies. The bill package aims to make permanent some of the Interagency Agreements (IAA) that have been announced and have begun to be implemented over the last year. In addition to moving programs, the bills state that those moves cannot be used to increase the total number of full-time staff in the affected agencies beyond the staffing levels in place when the bill becomes law. Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) characterized the bills as the “first step” of closing ED. Lawmakers clashed on party lines about the bills and their underlying purpose, with Republicans asserting that shuttering ED is necessary because educational attainment has not improved since the Department was established, the move will lessen bureaucracy and will “return education to the states.” Democrats countered by asserting that the bills provide cover to ED, as the IAAs conflict with education statutes and other federal laws. Over the course of six hours, the Republican bills prevailed and Democratic amendments failed as Committee members disagreed on everything from fundamental principles of the IAAs to the necessary staffing levels required to implement education programs and more. The only Member to cross party lines was Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA), who sided with Democrats and opposed moving K-12 education programs to the Department of Labor, and, on a preemptive amendment offered by Rep. John Mannion (D-NY) to prevent the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) from being transferred to any other agency. However, Kiley’s opposition wasn’t enough to give Democrats a win. Note, neither the planned move of OSERS to Health and Human Services, nor the move of the Office for Civil Rights to Justice were part of the 10-bill package. Ultimately, all 10 bills were approved with Republican-only support. Next steps for the package in the House remain unclear. When asked by the press about the viability of the bills in the Senate, Senate Appropriations Vice Chairman Patty Murray (D-WA) said, “So let me be crystal clear: under NO circumstances will I let these bills pass the Senate.”
Autism Society Publishes Guide for Educators, Parents, and Students
The Autism Society, in conjunction with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), has published Beyond Acceptance: Autism Inclusion and Equity, a guide for educators, parents, and students. The guide provides a history of autism in educational settings, explains the multifactorial nature of autism, and distinguishes between a medical diagnosis and an educational determination. The publication also includes autism-related specifics on the application of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, educational strategies, and cultural support.
More students with disabilities are in general education classes. How’s that working?
Education Week
The percentage of students who have disabilities and spend a substantial portion of their school day in general education classes is rising, prompting experts, advocates, and the general public to call on school districts to ensure those students have enough support to be successful.
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This Week: House Committee Will Mark-Up Bills to Codify Transfer of Programs from Department of Education
After last week’s introduction of a package of 10 bills that transfer key education programs currently under Interagency Agreements (IAAs) to their partner agencies, House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) has scheduled a committee mark-up of the package this week. The Less Bureaucracy, Better Education package would expand upon current agreements that share responsibilities for education programs between the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Interior, State, and more. The bill package takes the IAAs a step further by codifying the full transfer of programs to other agencies. At this time, there is no bill codifying the IAAs announced in late June that would move the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to HHS and the Office for Civil Rights to Justice. COPAA opposes the package and does not support any effort to dismantle ED.
ED Briefing Focuses on Pending Role of HHS and IDEA
Last week, the Office for Special Education Programs (OSERS) at the U.S. Department of Education conducted a public briefing led by OSERS Acting Assistant Secretary Kelly Rogers to discuss an Interagency Agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Without providing a timeline or specifics of the pending transfer of functions between ED and HHS, the briefing included repeated statements by Rogers that “HHS is not taking over the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),” and that all “dedicated” OSERS staff would continue working on IDEA programs. Answering pre-submitted questions, she continued to note that OSERS will conduct “vigorous enforcement” of IDEA, and that no funding or other interruptions should be expected. In response, Denise Marshall, COPAA CEO, told NPR that the briefing lacked detail, “offered no plan” for the pending transfer, “adds layers of bureaucracy,” and is a “sham” given the known actions taken by ED to reduce OSERS staff, cut valuable special education research and programs, and reduce the number of annual on-site visits to monitor State compliance with IDEA. Because the briefing was not recorded, OSERS released a video that follows a similar format.
Lawsuit Challenges Decision to Withhold Millions in Education Research Funding, Including for Special Education
On June 30, Protect Democracy and Jacobson Lawyers Group filed suit on behalf of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and other stakeholders challenging actions by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), OMB Director Russell Vought, the Department of Education, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, and Acting Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Matthew Soldner. The lawsuit alleges that OMB has prevented hundreds of millions of dollars appropriated by Congress for education research, statistics, and technical-assistance programs from being spent on their intended purposes. “Congress appropriated these funds, and they must be apportioned and made available as Congress intended, so critical research and data for children with disabilities can continue without disruption. Every day of delay puts that essential work at risk,” said Dr. Jacqueline Rodriguez, Chief Executive Officer, NCLD.
Disability groups left concerned, confused after Ed. Dept. briefing
NPR
In a call with disability rights advocates Thursday, officials from the U.S. Department of Education tried to ease concerns about plans to move the agency’s special education offices to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The effort seemed to fail. “Today’s briefing left more questions than answers for parents and educators,” says Chad Rummel, who leads the Council for Exceptional Children and was one of many disability advocates who attended the call. “Today we heard that there is no clear and transparent plan around the move to HHS.” According to a recording of the call obtained by NPR, the acting assistant secretary overseeing special education, Kelly Rogers, said she wanted to reassure advocates that the move would not harm federal protections for students with disabilities. “The U.S. Health and Human Services is not taking over IDEA. Period.” Rogers was referring to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a federal law that guarantees students with disabilities a quality public education alongside their nondisabled peers. Yet Rogers also said in the same breath that staff at the Office for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) — many of the people actually responsible for supporting states and schools in implementing IDEA — would be moving to HHS. She said she would continue to oversee that staff from her perch at the Education Department “with additional support by HHS.” While department officials have been pitching this move as a way to streamline federal bureaucracy in education, advocates think it is doing the opposite. “This proposal appears to add another layer of bureaucracy while creating additional confusion and uncertainty for families, educators, and state agencies,” says Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA)
Education Department scaled back special education monitoring, report shows
Chalkbeat
Federal teams charged with making sure states are doing right by students with disabilities appear to have visited fewer than half of the states originally scheduled for review in 2025 and 2026. That information comes from U.S. Department of Education documents compiled and analyzed by the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, a group that supports students with disabilities and their families, as well as additional review by Chalkbeat of publicly available monitoring schedules. If federal reviews of state special education systems continue at this pace, each state would be reviewed only once every 25 years, COPAA said in a report released Tuesday. That would mean many students would go their entire school careers without federal oversight of state systems.
“The new administration has quietly rolled back their state oversight,” said Chris Roe, COPAA director of state policy. “We are worried that this sends a signal to states and eventually to local schools that this is not important, and they don’t need to be concerned about it.” Drawing on nearly a dozen state monitoring reports based on reviews that started under the Biden administration, the COPAA report also raises concerns about states’ capacity to adequately monitor school districts’ compliance with special education requirements as the Trump administration pledges to “return education to the states.”
Most states fail to meet IDEA requirements, feds say
Disability Scoop
Over half of states are not living up to their obligations under federal special education law, with many receiving a failing grade from the U.S. Department of Education multiple years in a row. Just 20 states earned a “meets requirements” designation from the Education Department this year for serving students with disabilities ages 3 to 21 under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Meanwhile, 26 states were labeled “needs assistance,” including 23 that have received that mark for two or more consecutive years. Another four states and Washington, D.C. were listed as “needs intervention.” The determinations released this summer are the result of a review mandated under IDEA and are based on data from the 2024 fiscal year. Per the law, the Education Department assesses each state’s progress in meeting the law’s expectations annually and assigns them to one of four categories — meets requirements, needs assistance, needs intervention or needs substantial intervention.
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Former Republican special ed chiefs warn against shifting oversight to HHS (OPINION)
The 74
Most families want the same thing: children who feel safe, welcome, challenged and supported at school, and teachers who have the tools to help them succeed. Education must be focused on what truly matters: our children, the families who support them and the educators committed to their success. When politics overshadows learning, we compromise the very purpose of education. We deeply understand how the U.S. Department of Education protects and supports children with disabilities. Laurie served as the director of the Office of Special Education Programs in the first Trump administration. Stephanie led that office in the George W. Bush administration. We both agree that the federal department is key to ensuring every child deserves a fair chance to get a quality education and the opportunity to reach their full potential. That is why we oppose moving the office that oversees special education to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We are concerned this step, announced last month, is being driven by a broader push to close the Education Department, rather than by clear evidence that it would improve services for children.
COPAA State Monitoring Report Finds States Lack Capacity to Police IDEA Compliance
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.”
Senate Democrats Reject Interagency Agreements to Move IDEA and Civil Rights Functions to Other Agencies
Last week, Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee; Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations; and Bernie Sanders, Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, led the entire Senate Democratic Caucus in demanding Secretary of Education Linda McMahon “put students first, follow the law, and immediately reverse course on transferring special education programs and civil rights enforcement out of the Department of Education (ED).” Calling the four interagency agreements (IAAs) proposed by ED “outrageous,” the letter states that the IAAs do not follow Congressional intent in key statutes such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and other laws that require the Secretary of Education to monitor and oversee the education and vocational rehabilitation services provided by States to millions of students with disabilities. COPAA and partners (which now includes over 735 local, state, and national organizations) have also responded to the announcement of IAAs that seek to transfer the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice. YOU can SIGN a Petition by July 16 to oppose the transfer of IDEA programs to HHS and civil rights functions to DOJ.
GAO Report Highlights Wide Variability in Student Access to General Education
In a new report titled More Students with Disabilities Were Educated in General Education Settings, but State Trends Varied Widely, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the number of students with disabilities placed in general education classrooms for much of their day increased 25% nationally from school years 2012-13 to 2023-24. But this varied across states and school districts. GAO also indicates that school officials commonly cited “resource availability, parental involvement in placement decisions, and school environment as factors influencing student placement.” COPAA provided time and access to families to the GAO as they studied this critical issue. Given the findings, COPAA encourages our members to use the study to promote district and state policies that support and ensure that every student has access to the least restrictive environment as required by the law.