Federal Legislation & News
in Special Education
Budget: Trump proposes massive $6 billion cut to K-12 spending
Chalkbeat
President Donald Trump’s proposed federal budget would cut nearly $6 billion from K-12 education and consolidate 18 grant programs into a single funding stream that states could spend as they wish. The proposal to do away with distinct grant programs could serve as a test run for converting federal education funds to block grants, which allow more flexibility but provide less accountability for how money is spent. The budget proposal released Friday is for the 2026 fiscal year, which starts in October and affects school district budgets mostly in the 2026-27 school year. It calls for holding funding steady for Title I, an $18 billion program that supports schools serving students from low-income households, and for the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, or IDEA, which provides $14 billion to offset a portion of special education costs. These are prominent and popular programs that Education Secretary Linda McMahon has promised would not be cut. Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, which advocates for students with disabilities, said the administration cannot say it is supporting students when funding for IDEA and early intervention is flat.
Not One Generation Removed, Disability Advocates Fear Return to a Dark Era
The 74
A generation ago, people with disabilities were rarely in the room when their welfare was under discussion. Decisions about their care and education were made almost entirely by non-disabled people, who typically addressed them not as individuals who aspired to an education, desirable work or independent living, but as people whose bodies and intellects were broken. This framework is now known as the medical model of disability — a phrase that conjures images of people institutionalized in childhood, their humanity and potential literally locked away from public view. In the half-century since the passage of laws ensuring them the right to education, housing, jobs and other public benefits, people with disabilities have made great headway on closing the door to that draconian past and replacing it with what’s called a social model of disability.
Arizona Autism Charter School Founder Tapped as Ed Dept. Special Education Chief
The 74
The founder and executive director of a network of Arizona charter schools serving autistic children has been named the U.S. Education Department’s deputy assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services. Education Secretary Linda McMahon made the announcement while touring the Arizona Autism Charter Schools’ Phoenix location. Diana Diaz-Harrison, whose son is autistic, said that in her new job she hopes to continue her efforts to help others launch autism charter schools throughout the country. Her schools, she said in remarks captured on video by AZ Central, are a testament to what happens “when parents like me are empowered to create solutions.” “My vision is to expand school choice for special needs families — whether through charter schools, private options, voucher programs, or other parent-empowered models,” she said in a statement to The 74.
Update on 504 Lawsuit
An important development occurred in the lawsuit filed by 17 states challenging the Health and Human Services (HHS) Section 504 regulations that were promulgated last summer. The lawsuit challenges both the new 504 regulations as well as the constitutionality of Section 504 in its entirety.
The news relates to the update filed by HHS and the states in court last week where the states said that they would not pursue their claim to declare Section 504 unconstitutional. Advocates are pleased with this development and give credit to the strong advocacy of the disability community for the outcome. The states, however, are continuing their attack on the Section 504 regulation, including critical protections against discrimination in medical treatment, the right to receive services in the most integrated setting (Olmstead), protections for parents and children with disabilities in child welfare and more. They have asked the court to continue the “pause” in the litigation. The next report is due by July 21, 2025. Read more at www.Dredf.org
Trump Administration Issues Multiple EOs Impacting Education
On Wednesday, President Trump signed a series of executive orders (EOs) that impact education. Below is a summary of key orders:
Reinstating Commonsense, Non-Discriminatory School Discipline Policies aims to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) considerations from school discipline policies and rescinds federal guidance issued in 2023 by the Biden Administration. The order requires the Secretary of Education, in partnership with other agencies, to develop new federal guidance to state and local educational agencies. It authorizes action against institutions that engage in racially related disciplinary practices. To ensure compliance, districts must also submit a comprehensive report to the President that analyzes the effects of DEI-influenced discipline policies, assessing the use of federal funds in support of such practices—including those administered through nonprofits— and demonstrating “ that federal funds do not support racially preferential policies, including through nonprofit organizations, and proposing model discipline policies rooted in American values.”
Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy declares it is US policy “to eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible.” It starts the rollback of some regulations including Department of Justice Title VI regulations (signed into law in 1966) which prohibit discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in employment practices of recipients of federal financial assistance and deprioritizes the enforcement of others. Within 45 days, the Attorney General and Chair of the Equality Equal Employment Opportunity Commission must assess all pending investigations, civil suits, or positions taken in ongoing matters under every Federal civil rights law within their jurisdictions, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that “rely on a theory of disparate-impact liability, and …shall take appropriate action.” Within 45 days all other federal agencies are required to evaluate existing consent judgments and permanent injunctions that “rely on theories of disparate-impact liability and take appropriate action.”
Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth directs the creation of “new education and workforce development opportunities for America’s youth, fostering interest and expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) technology from an early age to maintain America’s global dominance in this technological revolution for future generations.” The EO will establish the White House Task Force on AI, chaired by the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and include Administration officials. The task force will oversee a new Presidential AI Challenge to recognize student and educator achievements, expand AI adoption nationwide, and promote collaboration across sectors to solve national issues using AI. It will also create public-private partnerships to support K-12 AI education and integrate AI tools in classrooms. Additionally, the Secretary of Education is directed to prioritize the use of AI in discretionary grants for teacher training and the Director of the National Science Foundation to prioritize research on the use of AI in education.
Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future directs the Secretaries of Labor, Education, and Commerce to review and modernize federal workforce programs to meet the needs of emerging industries. They must deliver a streamlined plan to the President that re-aligns these programs to support reshoring, re-industrialization, and the AI revolution, aiming to strengthen America’s global economic leadership. The EO has an emphasis on expanding the number of people who participate in apprenticeship programs, aiming to reach and surpass one million Registered Apprenticeships
Senators Ask Kennedy About Proposal to Dismantle ACL and Programs Funded to Support People with Disabilities
On April 28, 22 Senators wrote to Robert Kennedy, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to oppose the dismantling of the Administration for Community Living (ACL) which houses numerous programs that support people with disabilities. The letter acknowledges ACL’s role in “administering the critical programs established and funded by Congress that ensure older adults and people with disabilities can live in their communities with the dignity, security, and independence they deserve” and asks Kennedy to respond to key questions regarding the plan “to support adult protective services, long-term care ombudsman programs, and other protection and advocacy programs” that have been targeted by the Administration.
Supreme Court Poised to Back Student in Key Disability-Rights Case
Education Week
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday appeared likely to rule in favor of a Minnesota student with a severe form of epilepsy by tossing out a federal appeals court standard that makes it more difficult for families to prevail against school districts under two key federal disability-discrimination laws. The main question after nearly 90 minutes of an often technical but sometimes fiery oral argument in A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools was whether the victory for the student would be narrow in scope or the justices would use the case to more clearly define the liability standard for families and schools nationwide under the two laws—the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Trump’s Education Department has abandoned civil rights, families say
USA Today
Amy Cupp was alarmed when her sixth-grade daughter came home from school with bruises in the shape of fingerprints. School staff had locked the girl in a room while trying to restrain her in November 2024, said Cupp, a social worker in rural Indiana. Her daughter has multiple severe disabilities, including autism and auditory processing disorder, that causes her to have tantrums and occasional bouts of physical aggression. Cupp was already concerned that staff had restrained or secluded her daughter 29 times for a total of more than 23 hours in just the few months since the school year began, compared to 10 times when she was in elementary school. Cupp complained to school officials and they agreed to implement new procedures for preventing and managing her daughter’s outbursts that would reduce the use of restraint and seclusion. But they failed to implement those changes to her liking, she said. So Cupp contacted the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in December 2024.
Support Medicaid, Protect Children with Disabilities
When Congress returns next week, the House and Senate will dive headlong into negotiations to develop the budget reconciliation package intended to support corporate tax cuts. To pay for the tax extensions, some Congressional Republicans have targeted Medicaid for massive cuts. If Congress cuts Medicaid, millions of infants, toddlers, and school-age children will lose access to the health insurance that pays for the vital services they need. Nearly all States use Medicaid to finance Part C early intervention services for children ages 0-3 who qualify for both programs and on average, about half of children served in Part C are enrolled in Medicaid. The cuts to Medicaid also threaten access to services for millions of qualifying children with disabilities who rely on Medicaid for therapies, services, technology, and other supports in PreK-12 schools.
Tell Congress to support Medicaid and protect students with disabilities.
As Trump guts support for disabled students, their families are fighting back
Truthout
A letter to Congress, signed by 15 disability rights groups, made clear that removing federal oversight of critical civil rights laws like IDEA “leaves students vulnerable to the variation in state implementation and threatens to bring us back to a time when many students with disabilities were denied an education.”
Denise Marshall is CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA), an organizational signatory of the letter. Marshall told Truthout that COPAA and the National Center for Youth Law have filed a federal lawsuit to restore OCR’s investigative functions. “OCR has investigated a lot of egregious situations for kids who’ve been restrained, isolated, or forced out of school,” Marshall said. “This administration does not hide its hostility to people of color, people with gender identities that it doesn’t like, and the disabled. In many cases, people who’d filed complaints with OCR have discovered that investigations have been halted. It’s why we filed a lawsuit. OCR had been investigating cases and holding districts accountable.”
Parents say federal cuts have slowed civil rights investigations
NPR
Amy Cupp says that after weeks of trying to get G’s school to change the way it handled her daughter’s behavior, she filed a complaint with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, or OCR, which investigates discrimination in schools. That office recently lost more than 40% of its staff after the Trump administration launched a massive downsizing of the department. Now, Cupp and other parents say their civil rights complaints aren’t being investigated. Last week, Cupp joined a lawsuit that aims to force the federal government to act on complaints like hers. The lawsuit claims the layoffs have undermined OCR’s “ability to fulfill its statutory and regulatory mandate to enforce civil rights laws in schools.” “I just can’t fathom that anybody would cut something so vital,” says Cupp, a devout Christian. She says she voted for President Trump and thought he shared her beliefs. “But I can’t understand why they’re doing what they’re doing, because that is not what God would intend.”
HHS plans to cut funds used to investigate abuse at group homes
Mother Jones
On Wednesday, a leaked draft Health and Human Services budget document revealed, among other sweeping cuts to health- and disability-related services, that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s department plans to defund protection and advocacy services for people with developmental disabilities—including autistic people, about whom Kennedy also spreads harmful disinformation. The budget document is a proposal, pending official release and eventually congressional approval; it’s also unclear whether suggested cuts originate with Kennedy’s HHS or Project 2025 architect Russell Vought’s Office of Management and Budget. Federal funding for nongovernmental organizations to provide legal and advocacy services to people with developmental disabilities started in 1978 with the Developmentally Disabled Assistance and Bill of Rights Act. There are now 57 protection and advocacy agencies—one in every state, every territory, and in Washington, DC—that work to enforce the rights of people with developmental disabilities, those with mental health conditions, and other disabilities. The agencies, known as P&As, are overseen by HHS’s Administration for Community Living—which is being dismantled.
Bills in Congress detail path to closing the Education Department
K-12 Dive
Several Republican-led bills introduced in Congress this year propose how to divide up the U.S. Department of Education’s responsibilities among other federal agencies — and thereby carry out President Donald Trump’s plan to eliminate the 45-year-old agency. Some of the bills recommend transferring special education oversight and grants to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, folding civil rights enforcement into the U.S. Department of Justice, and moving student loan programs to the U.S. Department of Treasury. Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers have filed their own measures to prevent the Education Department shutdown and express support for the federal role in education.
Special needs students are underserved in DODEA schools, watchdog report finds
Stars and Stripes
Some special needs students attending Defense Department schools are being underserved due to staffing shortages and high turnover among special education personnel, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report released Thursday. The problem is exacerbated by rigid staffing formulas used by the Department of Defense Education Activity, or DODEA, which operates the school system. Those formulas, the report said, rely on student headcounts rather than the hours required to adequately serve students, often underestimating staffing needs. The GAO found delays in the delivery of special education services at 44 of DODEA’s 114 overseas schools during the 2022–23 school year. In six of those cases, more than a year passed before services were restored. Both parents and providers told investigators that delays and disruptions in services often harmed students’ academic progress.
Amici File Brief in the 5th Circuit in Support of Parent’s Win in U.S. District Court
COPAA and The Texas Organization of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (TOPAA) filed an amicus brief in the 5th Circuit in North East ISD v. I.M. on Friday, April 11, 2025.
IDEA mandates that children with disabilities receive a FAPE tailored to their unique academic and functional needs. The Supreme Court in Endrew F. clarified that an Individualized Education Program (IEP) must be reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances. This standard requires ambitious and challenging goals, ensuring meaningful progress for students with disabilities, including functional goals critical to their educational advancement.
The factors used by the Fifth Circuit to evaluate FAPE compliance, as set forth in Cypress-Fairbanks Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Michael F., 118 F.3d 245 (5th Cir. 1997), must be applied in alignment with Endrew F.’s substantive standard. The first and fourth factors are in dispute in this case. Specifically, the first factor must assess whether the IEP includes appropriately ambitious goals and challenging objectives tailored to the student’s unique circumstances. The fourth factor must evaluate whether the academic and non-academic benefits provided are sufficient in light of the child’s individual needs and potential for growth. In this case, the intensity and frequency of services are at issue; the parents requested that ESY services be provided for a full school day during any break of three days or more whereas the school district proposed just six weeks of ESY services for four hours a day. The parents were concerned that without more continuous education, their son regressed in the critical areas of toileting and elopement.
For students like I.M., whose educational programming necessarily includes functional goals related to elopement and toileting, progress on these goals is critical. To provide FAPE, therefore, the IEP must appropriately address those needs. The district court correctly emphasized the importance of these functional goals, recognizing that ignoring them would undermine the individualized nature of I.M.’s IEP.
The district court correctly determined that the Northeast Independent School District (NEISD or District) failed to provide a FAPE to I.M., a non-verbal autistic child receiving special education services in a self-contained life skills classroom, because I.M. was not progressing on functional goals. Amici supports the district court’s correct interpretation and application of the Endrew F. decision in this case, securing I.M.’s right to a FAPE.
Selene Almazan, legal director and Amicus Co-Chairs, Catherine Merino Reisman and Ellen Saideman drafted and filed the brief in support of the parents. The parents are represented by COPAA member Yvonnilda Muniz.