Federal Legislation & News
in Special Education
House Education Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Charter Schools
Last week, the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education held a hearing, Reimagining Education: How Charter Schools are Closing Gaps and Opening Doors. The hearing featured testimony from four witnesses: Mr. David Griffith (Associated Director of Research, Thomas B. Fordham Institute), Ms. Eva Moskowitz (CEO and President, Success Academy Charter Schools), Dr. Genevieve Siegel-Hawley (Professor of Educational Leadership, Virginia Commonwealth University), and Mr. Darryl Cobb (President, Charter School Growth Fund). Subcommittee Chairman, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) and other proponents praised charter schools as engines for innovation that improve academic and civic outcomes for both charter students and those in traditional public schools. Moskowitz outlined dire consequences for students attending low-quality schools and offered that charter schools can be the solution. In contrast, several Committee Members voiced concerns that charter schools may exacerbate segregation – particularly among students of color and students with disabilities – and often lack sufficient accountability for academic results and civil rights compliance. In her testimony, Dr. Siegel-Hawley noted that charter schools are less likely than traditional public schools to enroll students with disabilities, and when they do, those students often have less severe disabilities. She emphasized the need for accountability mechanisms to ensure that charter schools serve a diverse student population and deliver high-quality services, especially for students with disabilities.
Nonprofit wants to take on civil rights cases Trump’s education department left behind
The 74
For nearly a decade, Shaheena Simons led the division that fought for students’ civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice. Her tenure encompassed President Donald Trump’s first term, a time when staff still addressed the “full range of complaints” — from racial and gender discrimination to schools denying services to students with disabilities. Shaheena Simons was chief of the Educational Opportunities Section at the U.S. Department of Justice for nine years. Now she’ll co-chair an advisory council for the new Public Education Defense Fund. But to Simons, the Justice Department’s recent dismissal of a school desegregation order in Louisiana — at a time when racial and socioeconomic isolation continues — is a sign that the current administration has turned its back on students who don’t receive an equal education. It’s why she left the Educational Opportunities Section at the DOJ after 14 years in April.
Trump official’s autism schools secluded and restrained students at high rates
the 74
Arizona Autism Charter Schools, whose founder, Diana Diaz-Harrison, has been tapped to oversee the education of children with disabilities in President Donald Trump’s second administration, has used controversial, potentially dangerous disciplinary practices on its students at an unusually high rate. In the 2020-21 academic year, the latest for which federal data is available, school staff physically restrained 41% of its students and put 20% in seclusion, which is defined by the U.S. Department of Education as the involuntary confinement of a child, typically in a locked room. That’s 50% higher than the rate at which students are restrained and confined nationally. Many states — including Arizona — have outlawed or severely curtailed the circumstances under which the practices are allowed. At the time the data was collected, the charter network founded by Diaz-Harrison had two schools serving 283 students, 116 of whom were restrained and 57 secluded. Ninety-nine of the schools’ 146 K-5 students, or 68%, had been restrained.
Some states reexamine school discipline as Trump order paves go-ahead
North Platte Post
In the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order aiming to reinstate “common sense” school discipline, more states may follow and expand the authority of teachers and school officials to deal with disruptive students. The order, signed in April, repeals prior federal guidance that encouraged schools to address racial disparities in discipline, arguing that such policies promoted “discriminatory equity ideology” and compromised school safety by pressuring administrators to underreport serious student misconduct. In some states, new legislation already is trending toward giving teachers more authority to address student misbehavior.
OPINION: College students with disabilities are being abandoned by the Trump administration
Teen Vogue
Right now, hundreds of thousands of high school seniors are locking in their final decision about which college they plan to attend this fall. On top of the usual considerations when searching for a good match, disabled students often have to take campus accessibility and accommodations into account, including ramps, elevators, and amplification equipment. Securing appropriate accommodations can already be more complicated in higher education than in primary or secondary school, and it’s likely going to become more difficult as universities and colleges reduce their diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) practices under the threat of losing federal funding from the Trump administration.
COPAA Members on Capitol Hill
Last week, 70 COPAA members from 20 states conducted 75 hill visits to make recommendations to the 119th Congress. With overwhelmingly positive reviews, advocates reported that their visits were both impactful and timely as Congress finalizes the budget reconciliation bill, determines funding levels for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)/other education programs, and contemplates proposals that may impact which agency houses IDEA and supports children with disabilities in the long run. During COPAA Hill Days, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and the Senate Democratic Caucus hosted Abandoning America’s Promise: The Real Cost of Dismantling the Department of Education where COPAA member Diane Willcutts testified -and took questions from ten U.S. Senators- about the critically important role of the Office of Special Education and the Office for Civil Rights. (See below). Overall, COPAA Hill Days was an enormous success. If you want to engage with COPAA in its advocacy with the U.S. Congress, please take five minutes and send emails to your Senators and Representative about the urgent matters under debate today!
Senate Democrats Hosts Forum on Administration’s Education Activities
On Tuesday, May 6, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, hosted a forum on the Administration’s proposal and current activities focused on dismantling the Department of Education (ED). Attended by ten Senate Democrats, the forum was described as “the first in a series” to “expose and create more awareness about the devastating consequences for students, families, educators, and schools.” The event featured testimony from Rhode Island’s Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Angélica Infante-Green, President and CEO of The Education Trust Denise Forte, parent advocate and member of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates Diane Willcutts, and Tasha Berkhalter, an Army veteran who was defrauded by ITT Tech. The forum highlighted the historical context and current role of ED, which was described by Forte as having four critical pillars. Willcutts and Infante-Green highlighted the need for ED to continue to function and provide guidance through Dear Colleague Letters and provide technical assistance to states and districts whose oversight, according to Infante-Green, “helps keep honest states honest and helps those who waiver do better.” Willcutts gave examples of the important roles of the Office of Special Education and the Office for Civil Rights in helping students with disabilities and families directly when “one phone call from ED helped a district change its position…so a child [at home due to epilepsy] could take the bus and return safely to school.” Murray concluded by reaffirming that abolishing ED is “deeply unpopular” with the public and asserted that Senate Democrats “will not stand idly by as [the Administration] jeopardizes the rights, opportunities, access, and funding for all our schools and millions of students.”
COPAA Opposes House Budget Bills that Jeopardize IDEA Rights, Cut Medicaid
This week the House Ways & Means Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee have proposed budget reconciliation bills that include provisions harmful to children with disabilities. Specifically, the House Ways & Means bill would add $20 billion in funding for a tax mechanism that would provide tax credits to individuals who donate to “a scholarship granting organization” and then access up to $5000 annually through a voucher to use for tuition, curriculum, books, online education, and more. Families making more than three times the local median income do not qualify. While language was added to reference students with disabilities and accessing “equitable services” -as allowed under current law to ensure public school districts reserve some IDEA funding for parentally placed children in private schools- the bill does not add any new protections. Similarly, the House Energy and Commerce bill would cut Medicaid by more than $800 billion.
“The House budget bills deliver a double blow to children with disabilities by prioritizing a flawed voucher scheme and by cutting funding essential to providing services to children with disabilities,” said Denise Marshall, COPAA CEO. “On its own, the voucher proposal is a bait and switch because we know families who use vouchers can lose their IDEA rights; accountability suffers; and costs go up. Rather than prioritizing IDEA funding to benefit the 8 million children with disabilities (ages 0-21) served by early intervention and schools, the House has proposed a $20 billion boon to private schools that is paid for by massive cuts to Medicaid. Together, these proposals jeopardize access to all IDEA protections, including the screenings, interventions, therapies and services, assistive technology, and more that children and youth with disabilities need.”
COPAA is the author of School Choice Series Choice & Vouchers—Implications for Students with Disabilities, whose findings demonstrated that while some families can benefit from voucher programs, what is also true is that most voucher programs cut the IDEA-eligible child off from IDEA rights and cause loss of services and supports. The report also highlights the severe consequences families can face, such as financial strain; being pushed out by private or religious schools when children are deemed too challenging to educate; and there is often no accountability for student outcomes equal to state accountability systems.
How kids with disabilities will be impacted by Medicaid, Education Department cuts
19th News
Jolene Baxter’s daughter, Marlee, has overcome immense challenges in her first eight years of life. Marlee, who was born with a heart defect, has undergone four open-heart surgeries — suffering a stroke after the third. The stroke affected Marlee’s cognitive abilities — she’s in the second grade, but she cannot read yet. A mainstream class with neurotypical students felt overwhelming, so Marlee mostly attends classes with kids who also have disabilities. Her care includes physical, occupational, and speech therapies. For years, Baxter has relied on Medicaid to cover Marlee’s medical expenses while advocating for her daughter’s right to an equal education. Medicaid, which covers therapies, surgeries, and medication for Marlee — and disability protections under the Department of Education have been a critical safety net for Baxter, a single mom in Oklahoma City. Now, Baxter fears that proposed cuts to Medicaid and those already underway at the Department of Education, which President Donald Trump has effectively gutted, will have a disastrous impact on her daughter.
Trump’s dismantling of Education Department gives states ‘green light’ to pursue voucher programs
NBC News
A growing number of red states have expanded their school voucher programs in recent years, a trend that is likely to only spike further amid a push led by President Donald Trump’s administration to return education “back to the states.” Conservative education activists have long lauded such programs as a way to give greater control to parents and families. However, public education advocates warn that the expansion of these voucher programs presents further risk to the broader school system as it faces peril from Trump’s dismantling of the Department of Education. “Many states came into this administration with a track record of trying to privatize education, and I think they see this move to dismantle and defund the Department of Ed and President Trump’s support of school privatization as a green light to be more expansive in their approach moving forward,” said Hilary Wething, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute who closely studies the impact of voucher programs on public education. Just last week, Texas enacted a statewide private school voucher program, becoming the 16th state to offer some form of a universal school choice program.
Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed in OCR lawsuit
A group of students and parents, represented by the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc. (COPAA), filed a motion for preliminary injunction on Friday, May 2, 2025, in the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education seeking to block the Department’s unlawful rollback of civil rights protections for students experiencing discrimination in schools.
The motion asks the court to immediately halt the Department’s recent policy decision to abandon thousands of investigations within its Office for Civil Rights (OCR). It follows the filing of the plaintiffs’ amended lawsuit on April 10 and is supported by several sworn declarations from parents and current and former OCR staff that detail the perilous, ongoing harm many plaintiff children and thousands of students across the country continue to face as a result of the discrimination they experience in schools.
White House Sends 2026 “Skinny” Budget to Congress, IDEA Level Funded
In alignment with the new Administration’s agenda to streamline federal programs and cut federal spending, last Friday, the White House released the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Budget Request to inform Congress’ work on annual appropriations. The ‘Skinny Budget,’ as described by the White House, includes a 46-page outline of proposed increases, reductions, and consolidations to programs in each federal agency. Prepared by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the FY 2026 Budget provides proposed funding levels for top-line education, justice, health, and other federal programs but does not provide budget details for each program. For example, under the U.S. Department of Education (ED), OMB proposes to “preserve Title I and streamline K-12 programs” in a “K-12 Simplified Funding Program” which in total is cut by $4.5 billion from FY 2025 and would consolidate 18 competitive and formula grant programs into a new formula grant. Similarly, the “Special Education Simplified Funding Program” remains level funded [from FY 2025] and proposes to “consolidate” seven Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) programs into one. The Charter School Program would be plussed up by $60 million, and ED’s Office for Civil Rights would be cut by $49 million. With an overall cut to the education budget of 15.3 percent, other big losers are Adult Education ($729 million cut), the elimination of TRIO and GearUP -which serve as access programs to college for low-income children and children with disabilities- as well as the elimination of the Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grants for new teachers. Regarding the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) the President is proposing a 26.2 percent cut overall. Specific cuts at HHS include the elimination of the preschool development grant ($315 million) and is silent on Head Start and the programs authorized under the Developmental Disabilities Act (e.g., State Councils on Developmental Disabilities, University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDS), and Protection and Advocacy Systems (P&As)) which were all rumored to be eliminated in the week leading up to the budget release. Finally, the Department of Justice (DOJ) budget includes a $1.1 billion reduction that would eliminate forty grant programs and proposes a $193 million cut to the Civil Rights Division which is responsible for disability rights investigations under the ADA and Section 504.
While the budget does not include any details beyond these brief descriptors, in terms of process, the proposal is a required step that puts the priorities of the sitting President in front of Congress. It is now up to House and Senate appropriators to determine whether -and to what extent- to include the funding recommendations as they negotiate spending bills over the coming months. House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) responded favorably and said he “could work with it,” whereas Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) said she had “serious objections.”
COPAA and Partners Respond to Executive Actions on Discipline and Disparate Impact
Last week, COPAA signed with forty organizations in a letter to state and local leaders expressing “deep disagreement” with Executive Orders (EO) 14280 and 14281 which were issued by the White House. Citing multiple federal statutes as well as case law, the Education Civil Rights Alliance (ECRA), as convened by the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), the advocates told state and local school leaders that the EOs “will erode civil rights protections for students if implemented” and urged them “to continue to root out disparities and foster equity in schools, in compliance with current civil rights laws and in order to ensure equal educational opportunities for all.”
Senate Report Details Threats to Special Education Protections
The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) serves a global student population, with about 15% receiving special education services. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) review found serious challenges in overseas schools, including limited access to related services like physical therapy, causing delays at 44 of 114 schools in 2022–2023—some delays lasting over a year. DoDEA’s staffing model does not account for the individualized minutes of service required by students’ individualized education plans (IEPs), contributing to shortages. Additionally, paraeducators at most schools reported little to no special education training, including any required crisis response preparation. Staff and regional officials also cited unclear guidance on implementing Department of Defense policies, leading to inconsistent support across schools. While updates are planned by 2025–2026, clearer interim communication is needed. These findings highlight the need for better training, staffing, and policy clarity to ensure military-connected students with disabilities receive consistent, high-quality support. DoD only partially agreed with the GAO findings.
Nation’s Disability Services System Begins To Buckle As Funding Threats Intensify
Disability Scoop
President Donald Trump wants to cut $163 billion in federal spending next year, potentially zeroing out key disability programs, some of which are already pausing services because they’re running out of money. The White House unveiled a budget summary late last week known as a “skinny budget” that calls on Congress to slash funding for non-defense discretionary spending by 22.6% for the fiscal year starting in October. This would affect programs that Congress reauthorizes annually, but does not include mandatory programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. The summary offers little detail about how many disability programs would be impacted. However, a widely circulated budget document leaked last month from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers clues.