Special Education
Laws & News
Across the States
AR: This private school had students scrub floors and attack a fellow classmate. The state still funds it
ProPublica
Delta Institute joined a surge of new private schools in Arkansas, mirroring a national proliferation. New schools are opening at a fast clip as state legislatures set aside more public money for parents to spend at private schools, without meaningful oversight. There were about 100 private schools in Arkansas in 2023, state records show. Now there are about 220. That doesn’t count the 100 or so microschools in the mix—a version of the one-room schoolhouse that wasn’t tracked or publicly funded before. But even with that boom, Arkansas has largely chosen not to regulate private or microschools or monitor what’s happening inside them. Arkansas is so hands-off that it only requires private schools to conduct regular fire drills, keep immunization records, and display an American flag on a flagpole. It doesn’t review schools’ curriculum or the backgrounds and capabilities of their operators. Anyone is free to open one, including Morrison. Known to parents and students as Dr. Tracy, she wasn’t a licensed educator and had never run a school before. Her resume states that she holds a doctorate in occupational therapy and cognitive neuroscience from Washington University in St. Louis. The university said that the degree is only in occupational therapy. The Delta Institute didn’t look much like a school — it operated in a white colonial house set down a gravel driveway off a country road, its bedrooms transformed into classrooms. But it had seemed like the answer that parents of students with disabilities, including autism, were desperately seeking. Families said they put their faith in Morrison, who presented herself as an expert in autism and ADHD. “I am the best,” she texted one parent.
CA: LAUSD special ed classes were meant to be smaller this fall. Teachers are worried it won’t happen
LAist
Los Angeles Unified special education teachers and parents are bracing for another year of large classes when the new school year begins, despite a first-ever limit the union negotiated this spring. With booming special education enrollment, teachers say the district needs to hire more full-time staff to ensure tens of thousands of students receive the extra support they need — and are legally entitled to — every day. Under the new contract ratified by UTLA, resource services teachers are limited to supporting 20 students each in integrated classes, which include both special and general education students. Resource services teachers are assigned to students and collaborate with other teachers to support them. Classrooms with only special education students have different ratios, and those teachers qualify for a monthly stipend of $500 to $1,000, depending on how many students they have over the limit.
NY: New York City invests $67.5 million in special education for preschoolers
19th News
Preschoolers with disabilities in New York City will gain access to an unprecedented set of programs and services thanks to a major expansion in special education announced Tuesday by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York City Public Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels. The nation’s largest school system is investing $67.5 million in special education as families across the country fear the needs of their children with disabilities will go unmet amid the federal Department of Education’s continued dismantling. In New York City, young learners will be able to participate in three programs designed specifically for students with autism that were previously only available to K-12 students. They will also have access to initiatives for students with emotional disabilities or in need of adapted academics and life-skills training. The programs will be available starting in the fall in 14 of the city’s 32 community school districts. The majority of them are located in areas with some of the highest concentrations of working-class and immigrant families in the city.
AZ: Arizona students with disabilities fuel rapid growth in billion-dollar ESA voucher program
12news.com
A 12News investigation found the number of special education students receiving Empowerment Scholarship Accounts has tripled in four years, with several families receiving more than $30,000 annually. Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program was created to give children with disabilities access to educational services that public schools could not provide. Fifteen years later, students with disabilities remain at the center of the program — but they are also fueling one of its fastest-growing and most expensive trends. 12News Investigates, using public records from the Arizona Department of Education, found that the number of students with disabilities receiving ESA vouchers for private or home schooling has tripled over the past four years, growing from about 7,000 students to more than 21,000. That’s a 200 percent increase — far higher than the growth in other state programs for children with disabilities, according to a top state official. The increase followed the Legislature’s 2022 decision to expand ESA eligibility to every K-12 student in Arizona. And one national school choice researcher found that Arizona has the fewest restrictions in the country on voucher students receiving top-dollar awards. Students without disabilities generally receive between $7,000 and $10,000 a year through the “universal” voucher program. And students who qualify with disabilities can receive more than $30,000 annually, with the largest award approaching $48,000, state records show.
CA: California increases special education funding by $2.4B
Sacramento Bee
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Thursday that includes a $2.4 billion increase for special education programs in California schools, calling the budget a step toward improving services for students across the state.
“The investments now are about to take place and shape to answer the concern that these are dollars moving forward. I can’t make up for the past,” Newsom said during a news conference. “We’ve been muddling along, doing better than we were in the past,” Newsom said. He acknowledged concerns that rising special education costs were helping push districts such as Sacramento City Unified toward fiscal insolvency, an indication that the state’s previous efforts were “not good enough.”
NH: New Hampshire’s new special education aid formula, explained
New Hampshire Bulletin
New Hampshire schools could eventually receive millions of dollars more in state aid for costly special education services, under a new state law. But for districts, the assistance comes with a catch: a mountain of new paperwork. House Bill 1563, which Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed this month, broadens eligibility for New Hampshire’s special education aid program, allowing schools to seek partial state reimbursement for a new tier of special education costs. The law does not take effect until July 2028. Supporters say it will help curb a budgetary problem growing in New Hampshire and beyond: rising special education costs that are hitting local taxpayers. But the law also includes new accountability metrics for schools designed to ensure special education funding is being spent appropriately, and some worry the additional compliance could be costly.
NC: Feds say NC special education still needs improvement. What they say still isn’t working
WRAL.com
Special education services still aren’t adequate in North Carolina’s public schools, according to a new federal report. The report, conducted earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Education and noticed in June, is the latest to label state’s special education services as in need of assistance and oversight from the federal government — a designation the department has held several times over the past decade.
The assessment, which examined the 2024-25 school year, faults the state’s public schools for several things:
- not evaluating students for a disability and setting an individualized education plan (IEP) for them, if needed, in a timely manner (74%).
- students with disabilities performing worse on exams than the year before, especially students of color.
- not making individualized special education plans in time for preschoolers.
- inadequately preparing older students for life after high school.
- inadequately surveying families for satisfaction and former students for their post-school outcomes.
- not resolving all findings of noncompliance within a year.
Many are repeat concerns. Families of and advocates for students with disabilities say it’s the result of underfunding, a scenario affecting more than 200,000 students in North Carolina. “The system is under enormous strain,” Christopher Roe, director of state policy at the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, told WRAL in an interview.
PA: Public education investments passed by the General Assembly
PoliticsPA
The PA House and Senate have passed legislation (H.B. 1505), sponsored by state Rep. Liz Hanbidge (D-Montgomery), that implements key education investments included in the 2026-27 state budget while strengthening access to early childhood education across Pennsylvania.
House Bill 1505 also authorizes significant investments in public education, including:
- $565 million in adequacy and tax equity funding, ensuring every school district receives at least a $50,000 increase, consistent with last year’s investment.
- $100 million for school safety and mental health grants for public schools.
- $20.7 million in targeted school safety grants for nonpublic schools.
- A $58 million increase in Basic Education Funding.
- A $55 million increase in Special Education Funding, including $5 million dedicated to extraordinary special education expenses at brick-and-mortar charter schools.
- A $10 million increase for Career and Technical Education.
TX: TEA orders HISD to review special education overhaul after violations found
Yahoo News
A Texas Education Agency investigation found Houston ISD violated federal requirements for students with disabilities, forcing the district to review thousands of students’ individualized education plans before it overhauls special education. The district’s plan, which would send about 5,000 students with disabilities to new campuses, sparked multiple complaints from Houston families and a federal investigation into potential discrimination. The agency has ordered HISD to review individualized education programs for affected students, including any “potential harmful effects of any proposed placement;” meet with families to review changes before moving campuses; and offer training to all district-level special education staff. Parent Stefanie Naranjo filed a complaint with the state after her son learned in May he was reassigned to another school next year – even though his individualized education program said he would attend his current campus, Sinclair Elementary. He was among about 5,000 students with disabilities who received abrupt reassignments. In response to her complaint, the TEA ordered HISD to take corrective action for Naranjo’s child and make “systemic corrections for all students with disabilities” in the district. It warned that it may impose more sanctions if HISD fails to comply.
TX: HISD will continue special education overhaul. Experts say its plan conflicts with state orders.
Yahoo News
Before Houston ISD can consolidate its special education services, it has to review thousands of students’ individualized education programs and meet with their families. That’s the explicit order from the Texas Education Agency, which investigated the district’s plans. But HISD said it is already reviewing student records and plans to meet with families as needed during the school year – after it moves students with disabilities to new campuses. The district’s response has concerned some families who still hope to block the district’s special education overhaul and remain at their original campuses when school starts in August. Experts say HISD’s plans seem to contradict the state’s order and could trigger further sanctions, even as the district remains under a state takeover and conservatorship.