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HISD under federal investigation over plans to restructure special education services
Texas Standard The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into Houston ISD to determine whether the district is violating the rights of students with disabilities after it unveiled plans to restructure the way special...
Wealthy students more likely to get disability accommodations, study finds
The 74 While intended as a universal benefit, educational support for disabled children is significantly segregated by class, according to a paper released in January. The decade-spanning analysis of state and federal data found that wealthy families were twice as...
CO: Colorado overhauls school oversight for students with disabilities
FOX21 News Colorado
MA: Disability bullying in schools: How 13 Massachusetts students are fighting back
masslive.com Students with disabilities are bullied and socially excluded more than their peers. But a group of Massachusetts high school students is trying to change that. “I learned that disabilities are more common than you think,” said Isabelle Ogutt, who is part...
TX: Houston ISD plans to consolidate special education services, parent says after district meeting
Houston Public Media Late last week, documents that leaked online and circulated on social media detailed proposed major changes to special education in Texas's largest school district, which has been under state control since 2023. The documents appear to show plans...
COPAA was pleased to join the amicus brief in the challenge to Utah’s voucher program
Voucher programs impede access to civil rights laws, including IDEA, Section 504, and ADA, for students with disabilities, leaving them with little "choice" and no rights. Read the Public Funds Public Schools Article
Secretary McMahon Presents Fiscal Year 2027 Education Budget in Senate
Marking her first appearance before Congress since last June, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon presented the Administration’s priorities in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 education budget before the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related...
Millions of Research Dollars Due to Lapse, Special Education Most Affected
Knowledge Alliance (KA) warns that an estimated $289 million (36%) of Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 funding for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is at risk of expiring by September 30, 2026. According to a KA memo analyzing federal education research spending,...
Linda McMahon defends cuts, changes to Education Department
NPR The Trump administration's budget proposal includes $16 billion for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a federal law that guarantees students with disabilities a "free appropriate public education." That's one area where the department is...
Report: Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights is flunking
Mother Jones Last Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT.) released a report showing just how intensely the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has failed students. The report found that there were zero resolution agreements in 2025 “involving sexual...
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