Special Education
Laws & News
Across the States
FL: As lawmakers fix Florida’s school voucher system, educators, students cope with financial fallout
WLRN
After Juliet Sanomi came to the realization that traditional public school wasn’t the right setting for her son, who has autism, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She started a school where he and others like him would thrive. She began that mission 12 years ago in Plantation. The K-12 private school mostly serves students with special needs — about 85% have intellectual disabilities — with a model focused on strategies that specifically help students with disabilities succeed. ” This is a program to change the life of a child who the system says is impossible,” said Juliet Sanomi, the school’s founder and principal. “They’re now over there doing what the world says they could not do,” Sanomi told WLRN. “This is home to children.”
But the school’s future is at risk. Private school owners, like Sanomi, began facing financial struggles after the state dramatically expanded the school voucher program in 2023 and struggled to pay them in a timely fashion.
FL: Florida proposing school emergency plan for runaway disabled students
islandernews.com
Florida is seeking to ease parents’ concerns by creating a plan for public schools, including forming an emergency search team, if a student with a disability runs away unattended. State Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat from Orange County, filed House Bill 423 for the upcoming Florida Legislative Session, which would require public schools to create a School Staff Assistance for Emergencies (SAFE) Team andan emergency elopement plan for students who leave campuses without administration’s permission. “When it comes to the safety of our children, especially our children with disabilities, these are not partisan issues,” Eskamani said. “Everyone agrees there’s universal support. We just have to really work through the process to actually get this bill to the governor’s desk.”
MD: Maryland is rethinking how it pays for special education
The Baltimore Banner
Maryland’s education department awarded a major contract to the American Institutes for Research, asking the Virginia-based nonprofit to recommend a model that would adequately fund special education. They’ll answer a multipronged question: What is the true cost of teaching children with disabilities in Maryland? And how should that money be parceled out, considering the vastly different needs of each student? The state’s funding formula allocates a set amount of dollars for each student with disabilities, no matter the nature of their needs. Some people argue that this model doesn’t distribute the money fairly. The study, mandated by the legislature, will consider an alternative formula that sets up different levels of funding. Dollars could be distributed depending on the specifics of a student’s disability or the services they need. This model is a more common approach to funding special education across the country.
NY: ‘That is unacceptable’: Lawmaker pushes for new safeguards after shocking school incidents
CBS 6 News
The proposed bill creates enforceable statewide standards and strengthens protections against the use of physical restraint as a behavioral intervention, such as what happened at Lincoln Elementary School in Schenectady. In northern New York, parents of an 8-year-old student who is nonverbal and autistic are suing the Salmon River Central School District for allegedly putting their son inside a wooden box as a form of punishment. In Schenectady, a picture shows a staff member stepping on a second-grader with ADHD as a way to restrain him. These situations are what led Assemblymember Angelo Santabarbara to demand an enforceable statewide standard. “It’s beyond shocking. I mean, you don’t even have the words,” Santabarbara said. The lawmaker says parents did not learn about what happened to their child at school until pictures showed up online. Now, he says, even more parents are concerned that similar incidents are happening to their kids. “It strengthens the oversight, and that’s what’s needed here: more oversight. It requires immediate, same-day notification to the parents or guardians,” Santabarbara said. The bill would also explicitly prohibit the use of enclosure or confinement practices, such as putting a child in a box, which is the main claim in a lawsuit filed against the Salmon River Central School District.
CA: California K-12 schools brace for another year of uncertainty: 2025 in review
Local News Matters
Last year was tumultuous for California K-12 schools and their 5.8 million students — at least at the federal level. President Donald Trump slashed funding to schools, set about dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, and launched an immigration crackdown that left countless families afraid to send their children to school.
In hopes of boosting reading scores, California also rolled out a mandatory dyslexia screener and passed a law to overhaul literacy instruction. The new curriculum doesn’t go into effect until 2028, but many schools are already implementing and using the dyslexia screener to get extra help to children who struggle with reading disorders. California also passed a law creating an Office of Civil Rights, intended to eliminate discrimination in K-12 schools, especially antisemitism. The new law, which stems from a surge in antisemitic incidents statewide, is expected to provide more transparency and accountability in how schools handle discrimination complaints.
ID: UPDATED: Critchfield pulls plug on $50 million special education plan
ID ED News
State superintendent Debbie Critchfield is walking back her top legislative priority for 2026: a $50 million special education grant proposal. The money simply won’t be available in a cash-strapped 2026-27 budget year, Critchfield told fellow State Board members Wednesday. “We want to be careful, we want to be deliberate in what we ask,” Critchfield said. “The first priority for me is to maintain current budget levels.” Gov. Brad Little has shielded Idaho’s K-12 system from budget cuts, so far. He cut 3% from most state agencies in August, but he exempted K-12. But the state still has a projected $40 million deficit for the budget year ending June 30. And for 2026-27, Idaho faces a $555.2 million gap between agency requests and projected revenue. Special education remains a priority, Critchfield said. There is still an estimated $100 million gap between state and federal special education funding and the local special education expenses.
NY: NY bills demand data on lengthy suspensions of students with disabilities
Chalkbeat
New York City lawmakers are scheduled to vote Thursday on a bill that would force the Education Department to disclose detailed statistics about long-term suspensions of students with disabilities. A similar bill was recently introduced in the state legislature and would apply to districts across New York. The flurry of legislation comes after a Chalkbeat investigation found that New York City’s public schools have for years flouted rules designed to protect students with disabilities from lengthy classroom removals.
TN: Tennessee Disability Coalition says state earned ‘incomplete’ for failing to address needs of people with disabilities
wbir.com
The Tennessee Disability Coalition is made up of more than 40 groups working to promote equal participation of people with disabilities. For the past four years, the organization has released a scorecard grading the state on several aspects such as access to care, housin,g and education. This is the first year the state has received a grade of “incomplete.” The group wrote that the state has been doing positive work, but uncertainty tied to support from the federal level has hurt progress.
TX: Here’s what to know about disability evaluations for school vouchers
Caller Times
Families of children with disabilities have the potential to get the most out of Texas’ new program to pay private school tuition or educational expenses outside of the public school system — so long as they have the right documentation. The Texas Education Freedom Account program, also known as school vouchers, offers students with disabilities access to higher funding. Families will be able to apply for the program in the spring. Students with disabilities could receive up to $30,000 compared to current estimates of $10,800 for other students. Additionally, students with disabilities are at the top of the state’s priority list for distributing the limited funds. For prioritization, families of children with disabilities need to submit a licensed expert’s evaluation. But to unlock the additional financial support, children must have an individualized education program, known commonly as an IEP.
WV: Legislators looking to make changes to school aid formula, weighing several options
WV MetroNews
Lawmakers are considering a few options for changes to the state education code and state funding formula.
Senator Vince Deeds, R, Greenbrier, 10, Vice Chair of the Health and Human Resources Committee, says one of the points of emphasis for him this session is special education in public schools. “Children with critical needs require a lot more attention, a lot more one-on-one time, and right now, the school aid formula doesn’t take that into account,” Deeds said last week.