Special Education
Laws & News
Across the States
CA: California students with disabilities fear cuts after trump’s policy changes
KQED
Sleep is a rare commodity at Lindsay Crain’s house. Most nights, she and her husband are up dozens of times, tending to their daughter’s seizures. The 16-year-old flails her arms, thrashes, and kicks — sometimes for hours. But these days, that’s not the only thing keeping Crain awake. The Culver City mother worries about how President Donald Trump’s myriad budget cuts could strip their daughter of services she needs to go to school, live at home, and enjoy a degree of independence that would have been impossible a generation ago. “Every family I know is terrified right now,” Crain said. “We still have to live our everyday lives, which are challenging enough, but now it feels like our kids’ futures are at stake.” Trump’s budget includes nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, which funds a wide swath of services to disabled children, including speech, occupational, and physical therapy, wheelchairs, in-home aides, and medical care. All children with physical, developmental, or cognitive disabilities – in California, nearly 1 million – receive at least some services through Medicaid.
MA: Creem files legislation for database to monitor quality of special education in districts
Newton Beacon
A proposed bill on Beacon Hill sponsored by Newton’s state senator would require the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to publish more detailed student data each year, with a particular focus on special education access. Filed by Sen. Cynthia Creem, the measure would require school districts to report exactly which special education services students receive, allowing the state to identify disparities in how support is delivered. It would also require the state to make this information easily searchable and cross-tabulated by race, gender, disability type, socioeconomic status, English-learner status, and homelessness to give families and policymakers a clearer picture of inequities across districts and individual schools. “S.317 ensures that families, educators, and the state finally have clear, transparent data to better identify problematic demographic patterns in our education system,” Creem said in an interview. “Better data will help support earlier interventions and assist policymakers in creating more tailored and targeted policy solutions.”
MI: Michigan fails its students with disabilities, first-ever report finds
AP News
When Michigan officials this year lauded a record-high 82.8% high school graduation rate in 2024, special education advocates pointed out a vastly different outcome: only 61% of students with disabilities graduated. That is one of several metrics showing what students with disabilities are up against in Michigan: They score below their peers in Michigan and across the nation in several areas, according to the first-ever Michigan Special Education Benchmarks Report released Wednesday by the Autism Alliance of Michigan. The group found 77% of disabled students are secluded or restrained, 40% miss more than 18 or more days of school per year, and 60% of their parents report their schools do not “facilitate meaningful involvement.” The report is a call for more funding and inclusion in Michigan, noting that state and federal money covers 44% of special education costs, forcing local districts to cover the remainder. “Students with disabilities can be educated, can be contributors to society,” said Heather Eckner, director of statewide education with the Autism Alliance of Michigan. “But if our public school system, where the majority of them are educated, is not fulfilling their obligation to prepare them for future education and prepare them for independent living, then we are not doing our jobs to get them to be ready to be citizens in our state.”
WI: Rep. Cruz: Introduces “Keep Our Promise” on special education reimbursement
WisPolitics
Representative Angelina Cruz (D–Racine), a long-time public school teacher, introduced legislation today to hold the state accountable for meeting the special education reimbursement levels promised in the current budget. The “Keep Our Promise on Special Education Reimbursement Act” guarantees sum-sufficient funding for 42% of eligible special education costs in the current school year and 45% in 2026–27. “Imagine your employer choosing to pay you for less than half of the work you’ve done,” said Rep. Cruz. “That’s the position we’re putting our public schools in. This level of reimbursement is not what our schools want or need, and it’s not what our children with disabilities deserve. At the very least, we must keep our promise. If Republicans were serious about providing 42% and 45% reimbursement this biennium, they now have the opportunity to prove it.” Underfunding special education reimbursement — even below promised levels — is not new, but this budget cycle drew significant public attention to the issue. On November 17, the Department of Public Instruction announced that reimbursement from November through March will be just 35%, a serious blow to already struggling public school districts.
COPAA Provides Letter of Support for Shifting Burden of Proof in Massachusetts
COPAA urged the Massachusetts legislature to enact H.4217, which would restore the burden of proof in special education due process hearings to school districts in order to ensure that students with disabilities and their families have meaningful access to due process. “These students and their families deserve a fair hearing system that does not disadvantage them simply because they lack the resources of a public school district. By ensuring that districts bear the burden of proving their own educational decisions are appropriate, H.4217 levels the playing field, promotes high-quality IEP development, reduces unnecessary litigation, ensures hearings focus on substantive appropriateness rather than procedural inequities, and aligns Massachusetts with other states that have enacted similar protections,” according to the letter of support signed by COPAA CEO Denise Marshall and Director of State Policy Chris Roe.
FL: Florida bill targets elopement by students with disabilities
Spectrum News 13
A house bill filed by a Central Florida representative aims at creating a plan for public school staff if a student with a disability elopes, or runs away unattended. House Bill 423 was filed by State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-District 42. The bill would require public schools to create a School Staff Assistance for Emergencies (SAFE) Team and an emergency elopement plan if a student with disabilities leaves the school unattended. “When it comes to safety of our children, especially our children with disabilities, these are not partisan issues. 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,” said Eskamani. HB 423 would bring relief to parents like Monica Carretero, who says her child used to elope when he was younger. She is involved with the Autism Society of Greater Orlando. “Eloping is one of the most nerve-wracking situations that any parent of a child with a disability can have,” said Carretero. The plan includes contacting the student’s parent or guardian, searching the campus, and calling 911 if the student is gone, and creating a reference guide for the school SAFE Team — including the kid’s photo, level of communication, and places they may have gone.
WA: 54 families now taking legal action against former school for students with special needs
king5.com
More than 50 families are stepping forward, taking legal action against a former school for children with special needs that received public funding. Several public school districts in western Washington had contracts to send students to the Northwest School of Innovative Learning, often referred to as NW SOIL. There are now 54 families taking legal action against the now shuttered school, calling for accountability for what they say their kids endured and want systemic change. KING 5 has interviewed five of the families taking legal action for this story, including in July and April. The families allege their children endured abuse, neglect, and long-term emotional and educational harm. The school operated three campuses in Tacoma, Tumwater, and Redmond. “I hope that the people who can’t speak out against this due to trauma get the justice that they deserve and heal from it,” said Shanna Halpin, a former student of the NW SOIL campus in Tacoma. “I would like to change how the system works, if at all possible.”
WI: Wisconsin school districts spent more on special education, now they’ll be reimbursed less
WPR
Earlier this year, school leaders across Wisconsin asked the Republican-controlled Legislature to boost funding for special education services in public schools. The biennial budget included a reimbursement rate from the long-standing 32 percent to 42 percent this year and 45 percent next year. In exchange, public schools are not receiving an increase in general aid over the biennium. Gov. Tony Evers praised the bipartisan deal as the largest increase to special education in the state’s history. But some education advocates, including the Wisconsin Public Education Network, said the budget remained “woefully inadequate to meet school districts’ needs.” An email sent to school officials on Nov. 17 by the Department of Public Instruction shows that this could be correct. School districts are going to receive about $140 million less than they originally expected to provide special education services this year. The state will be reimbursing the services — which public schools are legally obligated to provide — at 35 percent, instead of the expected 42 percent. That’s because school districts spent more on special education than the Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated, according to DPI.
ID: Education department considers lifting special education age limit
Idaho Ed News
State leaders are considering increasing the age limit for special education services, after court orders in neighboring states made students eligible for services up to age 22. Idaho funds special education students in public schools through the semester they turn 21. But an order last year from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit — the federal appeals court that covers Idaho — required Washington to fund special education services until a student turns 22. The Idaho Department of Education (IDE) this summer proposed increasing the age limit amid a round of updates to the state’s 465-page special education manual. But agency leaders removed the increase before the updates went to the State Board of Education for approval on Thursday. “We were just trying to be proactive,” said Jacque Hyatt, the IDE’s special education director. Instead, the department may address the age limit through the legislative process, because the change has a price tag attached to it, said Greg Wilson, chief of staff for Republican state superintendent Debbie Critchfield. It’s also unclear whether Idaho has to increase its age limit.
KS: Kansas families like mine need US Department of Education
Wichita Eagle
On Nov. 18, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon moved six key offices out of the U.S. Department of Education — a major step toward dismantling the agency entirely. As a mother of a child with autism and one with dyslexia, I am deeply opposed to these actions. Eliminating or hollowing out the Department of Education will directly harm millions of children, especially those with disabilities who rely on federally enforced rights, services, and protections every single day. For students with disabilities, the Department of Education is not just a layer of bureaucracy. It is the backbone of civil rights enforcement in America’s schools. Weakening it puts children like mine in immediate jeopardy.