Special Education
Laws & News
Across the States
TN: More districts disproportionately disciplining Black, disabled students, state data shows
WSMV4
More Tennessee school districts are disciplining Black students with disabilities at a higher rate than their peers, according to the latest state data. WSMV4 Investigator Courtney Allen uncovered which ones in the Midstate have been flagged. It is a story we have heard from multiple parents. “This is the 10th phone call I have got in the month about picking him up,” Telisha Turner, whose son has autism, said. Parents of Black students with special needs said they have been called repeatedly to pick their kids up from school for behavior. That is what Turner said happened at her son’s first school. “I am a single parent,” Turner said. “I am working to provide for us. I can’t keep picking him up.” WSMV4 Investigates uncovered that it is happening in more districts. The latest data shows that in the 2023-2024 school year, 21 Tennessee school districts were identified as having significant disproportionality. That is a jump from just nine districts identified in the previous school year.
TX: ‘Zero tolerance to zero consequences:’ Texas Senate bills aim to tighten public school discipline policies
Community Impact
The Texas Senate Education Committee discussed three bills March 25 that senators said would expand public schools’ ability to discipline students who are repeatedly disruptive or violent. Proponents of the measures said they would improve classroom safety and increase support for educators, while critics said the bills would undermine civil rights protections and push students toward the “school-to-prison pipeline.” The committee unanimously advanced Senate Bill 27 by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, to the full Senate on March 25. Creighton’s proposal would give teachers more discretion to remove from the classroom a student who interferes with the teacher’s ability to teach or who bullies or abuses someone.
ACT NOW! Support Medicaid & Protect Children with Disabilities
This week, the House and Senate are continuing to negotiate budget bills to support tax cuts. To pay for the tax credits, some Congressional Republicans have targeted Medicaid for massive cuts. If Congress cuts Medicaid, states and school districts will not have the federal funds needed to pay for the vital services that many infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities need. Nearly all States use Medicaid to finance Part C early intervention services for children 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 school-age children with disabilities who rely on Medicaid for therapies/services, technology, and other support in school.
Tell Congress to support Medicaid and protect children with disabilities.
CA: What LAUSD students with disabilities need to know about the ban on cellphones in class
LAist
There are at least 63,000 students with disabilities in the Los Angeles Unified School District. For these students, the district’s cellphone ban has implications beyond missing texts from friends or losing the option to scroll social media at lunch. Families told LAist their children’s phones help them control medical devices, cope with anxiety, and regulate their emotions. While students with disabilities can be exempted from the Los Angeles Unified cellphone ban, that requires families to assert their rights. Without an exemption, students can lose access to a valuable learning tool, and the policy may also put students in the awkward position of sticking out from their phone-less peers.
Denise Marshall is skeptical of cellphone bans. She said that they may be a barrier because families have to assert a right and go through the process rather than it being automatic. Marshall said families of students who want to ensure their child’s access to personal technology can call a meeting of their child’s IEP or 504 Plan team to discuss adding an accommodation that specifies how the device is used to benefit the student. But she’s also worried that students may feel too uncomfortable being the only ones in their class with access to a phone to use the device to their benefit.
NJ: Special education school bus safety bill clears NJ Senate
NorthJersey.com
Monday’s legislation, approved by a 39-0 vote, is sponsored by Sens. Kristin Corrado, a Passaic County Republican, and Patrick Diegnan, a Democrat from Middlesex County. It would create a panel of parents, educators, state officials, and advocates who will have one year to examine a system that disability groups say is failing New Jersey students and to come up with recommendations for improvements. “Today’s vote represents a big, important step forward in our effort to ensure the safety of students with disabilities. Among other things, this task force would provide a platform for a much-needed conversation about special education transportation — a conversation that should be student-centered and family-driven,” said Paul Aronsohn, the state’s ombudsman for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
TX: Proposed state bill would make it easier to suspend students
San Antonio Report
State lawmakers want to make it easier for schools to suspend younger students and students experiencing homelessness. House Bill 6, which is sponsored by nearly three-quarters of Republican representatives in the Texas House, greenlights the use of suspension for students below the third grade for conduct that results in “repeated or significant disruption in the classroom” or threatens the “immediate health and safety of other students.” The bill would limit the number of days students below the third grade can be suspended out of school to three days, but the length of in-school suspensions would be left for districts and schools to decide on. Under the bill, schools may also create online alternative schools for students with serious misconduct issues or send students to alternative disciplinary schools.
TX: Why North Texas educators fear vouchers could weaken special education resources
KERA News
Jolene Sanders thought a private school could give her son with autism the kind of specialized attention he needed. So she searched for a good school with a good program. “Well, it doesn’t exist,” she said she ultimately concluded after looking. Sanders, now advocacy director at the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, and education professionals are concerned the legislative momentum for passing education savings accounts, or vouchers, could leave behind students with disabilities. The current version of the bill, which is being considered in the House of Representatives, would provide families $10,000 to pay for private school tuition. Students with disabilities may receive $11,500 per school year. The bill also explicitly exempts private schools from abiding by federal and state laws regarding special education.
WI: Parents rally for increased funding for special education services
wkow.com
Parents of children with special education needs gathered at the State Capitol on Wednesday to urge legislators to increase funding for special education services. The rally was organized by Melissa Custer and COPAA member, Tiffany Schanno, who launched the Learn in My Shoes campaign to bring attention to the issue of inadequate funding for special education. Both Custer and Schanno are parents of children with special needs and believe the state must do more to support these children. To make their point, the parents brought nearly 100 pairs of shoes to the Capitol. Each pair was labeled with the name of a child with special needs and a story of their challenging journey. The display was meant to symbolize the struggles these children and their families face due to insufficient support and funding.
AL: Alabama parents sue over cuts to education civil rights office: ‘Discriminatory and unsafe’
al.com
Alabama parents are leading a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education over recent cuts to the Office for Civil Rights, which investigates alleged abuses in local schools. The lawsuit, filed March 14, claims school civil rights investigations have been “stymied” and “sabotaged” by the federal government since President Trump took office on Jan. 20. Alabama parents are among several families who claim that federal investigations into retaliation, sexual assault and discrimination against English learners and students with disabilities have halted entirely in recent months. One of the lead plaintiffs is Nikki Carter, a Demopolis mother of three and special education advocate who was banned from local schools in 2022. Victoria DeLano, a former OCR investigator based in Alabama, told AL.com she is also a witness in the case. “We’re at a drastic turning point that is likely going to set us back 50-plus years in civil rights protections when it comes to access to education,” DeLano told AL.com Friday.
PA: With DOE’s Office of Civil Rights depleted, a lawsuit seeks to continue discrimination investigations in schools
The Philadelphia Inquirer
With its workforce slashed and most of its regional offices — including one in Philadelphia — now shuttered, the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has effectively halted investigating issues of sex-, race-, and disability-based discrimination, according to a newly filed lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed Friday by the National Center for Youth Law and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates on behalf of two parents with pending civil rights investigations, seeks to force the Department of Education to continue investigations and provide updates to a judge about its progress. Though the parents listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit are not from the Philadelphia area, the OCR cuts have also worried parents locally. Eric Lowry, a father in the Lower Merion School District who has previously filed complaints alleging that Lower Merion discriminated against his daughter based on her disability, views OCR as a needed avenue for parents seeking accountability from school systems. ”Now that safety net is pretty well gone,” said Lowry, whose 2022 claim was resolved after Lower Merion agreed to make policy changes.