According to the Advocacy Institute, a nonprofit focused on improving the lives of people with disabilities, the U.S. is on pace to see the number of students with disabilities, ages 3-21, jump by about 1 million students between 2021 and 2025. Pre-K-12 grade schools gained 539,617 students eligible for Individuals…
On March 5, 2025, the nation’s largest educator union filed suit to challenge the U.S. Department of Education’s(USDE) directive to cease diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The lawsuit is in response to a strict Feb. 14 Dear Colleague letter (DCL) that educators and education policy experts worried would severely curb student…
In one of her first orders of business, On March 5, 2025 U.S. Department of Education (USDE) Secretary Linda McMahon has opened an Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigation of the District of Columbia Public Schools for alleged failures to meet the needs of students with disabilities. The investigation will…
On Monday, March 3, 2025. Linda McMahon was confirmed as the new U.S. Secretary of Education. Her first order of business will be the downsizing and possible elimination of the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). McMahon's confirmation was on the same date that USDE workers were given an opportunity to…
On February 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a frequently asked questions document to answer anticipated questions that may be raised in response to the Dear Colleague Letter: Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in Light of Students for Fair Admissions…
On Thursday, February 20, 2025. Linda McMahon’s nomination for U.S. Secretary of Education advanced with the approval of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which voted 12-11 along party lines. McMahon previously appeared before the committee February 13th for a 2 ½ hour confirmation hearing where she spoke…
A high-stakes lawsuit, Texas v. Becerra, is currently making its way through the courts, threatening crucial protections for people with disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. This federal lawsuit brought by Republican state attorneys general against the Biden Administration's updated disability discrimination regulation, challenges two aspects of that…
The U.S. Supreme Court (Court) has agreed to hear a case that questions whether students filing disability discrimination claims must prove that public school officials acted with discriminatory intent through “bad faith or gross misjudgment.” In A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, a Minnesota student, Ava, and her parents are challenging…
A January 27, 2025 memo issued by the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) serves as a Q&A document to shed light on the impacts regarding the pause in federal funding. While this is a developing situation, the clicking on this attachment will help provide clarification that Medicaid is…
According to a newly released analysis by the Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE), the number of special education due process complaints filed nationally rose by 16.4% from SY 2021-22 to the 2022-23 school year. However, the 65.6% of the special education legal actions in 2022-23 came…
