Special Education
Laws & News
Across the States
TX: 2 Texas bills tackle long-overdue special ed reforms — & a $1.7B funding gap
The 74
Texas school leaders are hopeful that a pair of bills making their way through the state legislature could help to close an estimated $1.7 billion special education funding gap and better equip schools to handle a dramatic rise in the number of children with disabilities in need of services. The measures are intended to address several longstanding issues that have plagued the state’s special education system. Since the 2015-16 school year, the number of students receiving services has increased by 67%, rising from 463,000 to 775,000. Funding has not increased proportionally, meaning schools must divert ever-increasing amounts of their overall budgets to make up the shortfall. Between the 2015-16 and 2023-24 school years, spending on special education increased from $5.6 billion to $9.1 billion.
CO: Safety concerns in a Jeffco kindergarten classroom spark legal and ethical questions
Jeffco Transcript
Parents of several kindergarten students at a Jefferson County elementary school have come forward in recent months with concerns about repeated classroom evacuations, student injuries, and growing anxiety among their children, all tied to the behavior of a single classmate. “Some days, my son comes home and tells me he sat outside coloring for over an hour because the classroom had to be evacuated again,” one parent said. “He tells me he doesn’t feel safe. And I can’t tell him he’s wrong.” According to these families, the situation has disrupted learning and raised serious questions about safety, support, and accountability.
(NOTE: COPAA director of legal services Selene Almazan is quoted in this article.)
ID: Senate kills funding for high-needs students
Bonner County Daily Bee
The Idaho Senate on Tuesday narrowly killed a bill that would have provided $3 million to fund services for high-needs students. The bill came the same year an independent evaluations office released a report that found the state’s K-12 public school funding was not covering the costs to serve students with special needs with a total gap of $82.2 million. Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, said she appreciated the “intent” of the bill, but opposed it because it created another fund when there were existing pots of money for special education. “The real concern here that I have is how this bill contributes to the broader issue of government growth,” Nichols said. “The Office of Performance Evaluation has suggested that special needs could absorb $82.2 million in funding, and this is exactly how government grows.” Nichols said new programs are “well meaning,” but “they expand year after year without results or accountability, ultimately leading to more government and more taxpayer dollars being spent with little to no return on investment.”
FL: Senate president wants to support disabled Floridians. Lawmakers are delivering
Central Florida Public Media
Two bills that would expand services for K-12 students with disabilities have now passed a full vote of the Florida Senate. These bills would expand early intervention programs for students with autism and provide work credentials for students with disabilities, respectively. Senate Bill 112, which would expand Florida’s Early Steps program, make testing for autism free throughout the state, and provide funding for charter schools and summer camps for students with autism, passed the Florida Senate on March 12. Then, on Thursday, Senate Bill 102, which would increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities by providing them with micro-credentials, also passed a full vote by the Florida Senate. The success of these bills is due in large part to Senate President Ben Albritton. The Republican representing DeSoto County, Hardee County, and southwestern Polk County has set about increasing support and services for people with disabilities this legislative session, which ends in May.
LA: La. parent says Trump’s plan will hurt special education
shreveportbossieradvocate.com
Kathleen Cannino feared this day was coming. President Donald Trump signed an order this month calling for the U.S. Department of Education to be dismantled. Trump, who argues that the agency is wasteful and ineffective, already has overseen the layoffs of about half of its staff. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley have celebrated Trump’s plan, saying states should control education. An outspoken advocate for special education in Louisiana whose 12-year-old son has a disability, Cannino is alarmed about what the Education Department’s demise could mean for children like hers. Without the agency monitoring states’ compliance with special education laws, Cannino worries that it will fall on parents to try to hold schools accountable. “Their fight is already difficult enough,” she said, “and I knew it was going to get harder.”
MA: State education board addresses timeouts, seclusion in schools
WBUR News
The state education board advanced regulations Tuesday to further restrict controversial “timeout” and seclusion policies in schools, the next step in a years-long effort to reduce the use of the practices. There’s been growing national attention on so-called timeout rooms in recent years, as families of students with disabilities have raised alarms about inappropriate use of the secluded rooms to punish their children and keep them out of class for long periods. Emily LaMarca, the mother of a son with Down syndrome, told the Board of Education in January that her son’s teachers began putting him in a timeout room when he was 10 years old, resulting in trauma. “He was constantly afraid, afraid to go to school, afraid that his teachers would come to our house and harm him. He talked about angry eyes at school and the sounds that his friends made when they were taken to what he called ‘the naughty room’ in therapy. Cole acted out his trauma by locking himself in the therapy dog’s crate because, in his words, he was a ‘bad boy,’ ” LaMarca said.
MN: Special ed faces cuts as Minneapolis schools struggle to close $75M budget gap
MPR News
Minneapolis school board members Tuesday night began detailing difficult cuts they expect to make to close a $75 million budget gap for next school year, including cutting more than 100 positions tied to special education. District leaders had previously signaled school nutrition and special education would be affected by cuts. Some layoff notices had already been sent. As they met Tuesday night, the board’s finance committee said the total number of position cuts coming hadn’t been finalized. Protesters at the meeting pushed back on talk of reductions, at one point standing and chanting “Who’s schools? Our schools!” They called on board members to sign a pledge not to touch student-facing special education positions.
OK: Oklahoma House takes aim at strengthening parental consent in special education decisions
KSWO.com
House Bill 1393, which aims to give parents of children with IEPs more of a choice in their child’s education, is headed to the Senate for further consideration. If passed, the bill would require schools to receive parental consent before enrolling a child with an IEP in the Oklahoma Alternate Assessment Program. Schools would have to hold an IEP team meeting with a parent before making any decisions regarding the assessment program. The parental consent form would also outline the benefits, risks, and legal implications of consent or refusal.
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.