Federal Legislation & News
in Special Education
Giving States waivers from accountability is a dangerous step backward for kids
The 74 (OPINION)
There has been a sea change in American education this year. From cutting social safety net programs and enacting unaccountable voucher programs at the expense of public schools to limiting access to financial aid for higher education, these stormy waters are setting American students adrift, eliminating important protections and creating ever greater barriers to an equitable education that sets young people up for success as adults. It’s more than just money; as Congress and the Trump administration have instituted perilous funding cuts that reduced support for nutrition programs, limited undocumented students’ access to important programs and dialed back enforcement of civil rights laws, federal agencies have eliminated and undermined vital data and education research. Without this information, there is no way to know how schools are working to address academic and opportunity disparities — particularly for Black and Latino students, multilingual learners, students with disabilities and those from low-income backgrounds.
The U.S. Department of Education took a dangerous leap forward with this strategy by inviting states to seek waivers from the federal laws that have, for over two decades, required annual student testing and public, disaggregated reporting of those results. Allowing states to alter established assessment systems and hide data on school quality will leave parents, educators and policymakers without important information they need to help students succeed. In order for this to work, the federal government will need partners in states to do the dirty work. Unfortunately, history shows they’ll be amenable .
COPAA and Partners Continue Advocacy to Protect Children and Seek Reversal of RIF at ED
As COPAA members know, in a unilateral move that caught both Republican and Democrats in Congress off guard, on Friday, October 10, the Administration announced a massive Reduction in Force (RIF) that has reportedly impacted thousands of federal employees including 466 working at the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The layoffs at ED have been verified by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee staff who confirm that RIF actions have impacted every ED office including Budget, Civil Rights, Communications, Elementary and Secondary Education, Post Secondary Education, Rehabilitative Services, Special Education, and more. For the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the Office of Special Education (OSEP) in particular, more than 180 employees have received their 60-day notice, leaving just a handful of staff to oversee all activities required to be overseen by under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In response, COPAA’s CEO, Denise Marshall issued a statement, activated our grassroots network, and, have continued to co-lead a broad disability and education advocacy coalition. This week they will share an updated statement to express concern and request that Congress protect children with disabilities and urge a reversal by the Administration in their decision to layoff virtually all of the OSEP staff.
ACT NOW! To do your part, please EMAIL CONGRESS and explain how the instability caused by the OSEP RIF is currently, or may impact children with disabilities.
House Democrats Host Disability Forum, COPAA’s Legal Director Speaks on Education
In support of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) hosted a virtual civil rights forum with disability rights leaders to discuss the impacts of the Administration’s “attacks” on disabled Americans. In his opening, Scott noted, “In October, we recognize the decades-long fight for equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities, and today, we face an unprecedented rollback of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility that we have not seen the likes of since the 1960s.” Scott and members of the Democratic caucus participated in a moderated discussion led by Dante Allen, Former Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration, and panelists Selene Almazan, Esq., Legal Director, Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA), Jennifer Mathis, Esq., Deputy Director, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Julie Christiansen, Ph.D., Executive Director, Association of People Supporting Employment First, and, Erin Prangley, Director of Public Policy, National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities.
Commission on Civil Rights Reports on Impact of Teacher Shortages
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) has issued a report titled The Federal Response to Teacher Shortage Impacts on Students with Disabilities, describing how the national teacher shortage impacts students with disabilities and providing an assessment of the U.S. Department of Education response to the shortage. The report is organized into sections that outline the issue and legal rights of students with disabilities, explains the federal government’s responsibility for protecting rights; examines the nationwide teacher shortage; and details, the specific effects of shortages on students with disabilities. The report includes case studies from six states—Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, North Dakota, and West Virginia. To illustrate the problem at the local level and also reviews how Congress and the U.S. Department of Education have responded to these challenges. The report highlights expert recommendations and concludes that the shortage of qualified teachers has significant and lasting effects on students with disabilities, leading to diminished educational quality, lower academic performance, and reduced long-term opportunities for employment and independence.
Shutdown job cuts spark fear for parents of special education students
USA Today
Enforcement of IDEA often is the stick some families need to ensure their children receive proper services from their local school districts. But parents of children with disabilities are on edge after President Donald Trump’s administration laid off a significant part of the Department of Education office that administers and enforces the law. A judge has temporarily paused the layoffs. The Education Department has been silent on why it laid off 121 people from the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, according to a court filing. The office allocates funding and enforces the IDEA, the law that facilitates accommodations for 7.5 million kids with disabilities. The office had 179 people in September 2024, the latest available number, which does not include any layoffs or buyouts that came earlier this year.
Additionally, the Education Department laid off 137 people in the office that enforces civil rights laws, including handling complaints about disability discrimination. “No education funding is impacted by the (layoffs), including funding for special education, and the clean (funding bill) supported by the Trump Administration will provide states and schools the funding they need to support all students,” Linda McMahon, the secretary of the Education Department, said in a statement Oct. 15. Denise Marshall, the CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, called it “disingenuous” to say the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services is still open with only a handful of people on staff. “There’s no way they can fulfill their obligations under the law with such a skeleton crew,” she said. “We can’t even get answers from them.”
Trump’s attempt to gut special education office has some conservative parents on edge
The 19th
The Trump administration’s decision to lay off most employees within the U.S. Department of Education’s special education office was described by the president this week as part of cuts to “Democrat programs that we were opposed to.” This was news to many conservative parents of disabled children, as well as disability policy experts. More than 7.3 million children in all 50 states rely on special education services, which are partially funded and enforced by the federal government. “Special education is a nonpartisan program. Special education services are provided to any student with a disability, regardless of political party,” said Maria Town, executive director of the nonpartisan American Association of People with Disabilities.
Trump layoffs in Education Department worry parents of disabled kids
The Hill
Parents of children with disabilities are growing increasingly worried as the Education Department shrinks and mechanisms for accountability seem harder to find. The department laid off nearly half of its workforce earlier this year, is moving to reduce disability services even further and has 95 percent of its employees currently furloughed due to the government shutdown. Parents say it’s getting harder to know who to contact for civil rights complaints and progress updates, and their fears are growing as Education Secretary Linda McMahon presses her calls for education to go back to the states while saying little about who will ensure oversight and compliance for the Individuals with Disabilities and Education Act (IDEA). “It’s not just the families that are left high and dry, it’s our school systems. The fact is that the federal government has a role in the provision of public education in this country, and when that’s just stripped out with no warning, no information and no assistance, it leaves everyone affected powerless. Schools are without guidance, and students are potentially — and families — without the protections that they’re guaranteed under the law,” said Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates.
Cuts at the Education Department Put Military Families’ Most Vulnerable Kids at Risk
Military.com
The recent Department of Education layoffs that have diminished the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services are likely to exacerbate challenges that military families already face. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s Workforce Acceleration & Recapitalization Initiative set out to address duplicative functions and “excessive bureaucracy” and introduce technological automation solutions for routine tasks. However, by restructuring the Department’s civilian workforce with abrupt reductions and no apparent public plans on how those residual programs will be maintained, critical classroom services, federal oversight and funding, and civil protections remain up in the air.
For this senator, Trump’s special education layoffs are personal
USA Today
For New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan, it felt personal watching more than 120 jobs tied to special education disappear during the U.S. government shutdown. President Donald Trump ordered massive layoffs across the federal workforce, which critics see as part of an effort to pressure Democrats like Hassan into voting to end the ongoing budget crisis that now stretches into its third week. The firings included roughly a fifth of the U.S. Department of Education – and nearly everyone in its special education division, per court documents and the agency’s union. That’s particularly painful to Hassan, a second-term lawmaker and former governor with a son, Ben, who was born almost four decades ago with cerebral palsy, a neurological condition that affects movement and posture. While in school, the senator’s son needed some of the very programs she says now have an uncertain fate without people to manage them. “This is a real blow to children and families all across the country,” Hassan told USA TODAY in an interview. “I don’t have constituents asking me to shut the door on kids with disabilities.”
Victory in the Tenth Circuit for Students with Intellectual Disabilities Seeking Individualized Educational Placements
In an important victory last week in Jacobs v. Salt Lake City School District, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled in favor of the plaintiffs—two students with intellectual disabilities and the Disability Law Center— in their lawsuit challenging the manner in which the Salt Lake City School District educates and places students with intellectual disabilities. On behalf of themselves and other similarly situated students, the plaintiffs argue that by automatically placing students with intellectual disabilities in a small handful of specific schools, the school district fails to make individualized educational placement decisions and therefore violates the Individuals with Disabilities with Education Act (“IDEA”), the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
The Salt Lake City School District uses a “hub” system to consolidate educational services for students with intellectual disabilities. The Tenth Circuit explained that the school district categorizes students with intellectual disabilities “based solely on their IQs,” “does not ‘consider the individual needs of students in assigning them’” to programs, and does not meaningfully “consider whether intellectually disabled students could be placed in the ‘general education environment,’” but rather predetermines their placements.
Previously, the United States District Court for the District of Utah had dismissed this lawsuit, finding that the plaintiffs’ claims were “limited to seeking only to attend their neighborhood schools.” The Tenth Circuit disagreed and reversed that decision, finding that the plaintiffs could continue to press their claims under the IDEA, ADA, and Section 504, and remanded the case for further proceedings before the district court.
Notably, the Tenth Circuit also found that the district court erred in dismissing the plaintiff’s 504 claim for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, noting that it would have been futile for the plaintiff students to have attempted to exhaust with respect to their 504 claims during their IDEA due process proceedings, as the hearing officers would have dismissed those claims for lack of jurisdiction.
Broad Coalition of Disability, Civil Rights, and Education Organizations Call for Reversal of Layoffs at Department of Education
Today, COPAA and more than 385 local, state, and national organizations joined together to call for a reversal of the layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education that impact all offices responsible for supporting children with disabilities, their families, and their schools. This year marks the 50th anniversary of IDEA, a law that has enjoyed strong bipartisan support for five decades. Rather than celebrating progress, we face a crisis: the dismantling of the very infrastructure Congress created to ensure children with disabilities could reach their full potential, potentially catapulting them back to a time of segregation and refusal to provide educational opportunities.
Unjust Firings at ED Harms Students with Disabilities
WASHINGTON, DC – In response to the most recent cuts made by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) that eliminate hundreds of jobs within the agency, COPAA CEO Denise Marshall made the following statement:
On Friday, the Department of Education eliminated hundreds of jobs through an illegal Reduction in Force (RIF). As we understand it, these RIFS affect all but a few staff and will harm students with disabilities. The action sends the message that our children are not valued and unfairly creates confusion and chaos in our schools.
The cuts have gutted key offices—including the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) and the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), which are responsible to administer funding and oversee the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
The RIF circumvents the will of Congress and dismantles 50 years of precedent upholding the rights of students with disabilities.
Decimating the Department of Education disrespects and ignores the requirements of the law. IDEA, a federal statute, requires the Secretary of Education to lead, direct, and oversee federal activities that are permanently codified into law. Members of Congress -from both sides of the aisle- agreed on this because they understand that our children, their families, and the educators that support them should not be bandied about with the political winds of one party or another.
We call upon Congress to protect our kids and put the pressure on the administration to reinstate staff at the Department of Education.
Protect Children with Disabilities & IDEA: Tell Congress to Pressure ED to Reinstate Staff TAKE ACTION
Ed Department lays off nearly all special education staff
Disability Scoop
Layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education will leave no more than a handful of staffers in the agency’s special education office, jeopardizing oversight of the nation’s programs for students with disabilities, advocates say. The Trump administration is following through on a White House pledge to lay off federal workers as the government shutdown drags on. While officials at the Education Department are mum on the changes, court documents show that about 466 employees at the agency are affected by the reduction in force, or RIF, and disability advocates said they suspect that the figure is an undercount.
IDEA requires the Secretary of Education to “lead, direct, oversee federal activities that are permanently codified into law,” said Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, or COPAA, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of students with disabilities and their families. “Decimating the Department of Education disrespects and ignores the requirements of the law,” Marshall said.
How will Education Dept. layoffs affect special ed, 504 plans, IEPs?
USA Today
Families and educators across the country were plunged into a state of uncertainty over the weekend after the federal Education Department laid off practically every staffer in the government’s special education division. Nearly the entire Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, including the Office of Special Education Programs, was let go, according to agency workers and their union. Employees in the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, many of whom work to protect students with disabilities from discrimination, were also laid off, the union said. The impacted divisions included offices in the District of Columbia, Seattle, and Atlanta.
Trump’s new layoffs hurt disabled kids
Mother Jones
Last Friday, all but two senior staff members in the federal Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) received reduction-in-force notices, according to reporting from K-12 Drive. It was part of a scourge of layoffs. 460 people across the Department of Education received RIF notices. That is roughly one in five workers in the agency. But OSEP’s evisceration is particularly harmful. One of the major responsibilities of OSEP is to distribute funding connected to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This accounts for the money needed for the roughly 7.5 million disabled students on Individualized Education Plans, also known as IEPs.