On January 22, 2024, the United States Department of Education (“USDOE”) issued a Dear Colleague Letter regarding supporting students with disabilities who require assistive technology (“AT”) in order to receive meaningful...more
On May 18, 2023, the CMS, in consultation with the DOE, released new guidance to support state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) agencies (SMAs), state education agencies (SEAs), and local education...more
Supreme Court Blocks Use of Race in Harvard, UNC Admissions in Blow to Diversity Efforts - "In one of its most closely watched cases this year, the court ruled along ideological lines that the way the schools approached race...more
In May 2022, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it intended to strengthen and protect rights for students with disabilities by amending the regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973...more
A.N. v. Upper Merion Area School District, 2022 WL 3371612 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 16, 2022). The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania upheld a hearing officer’s award of 5.5 hours of compensatory...more
On July 19, 2022, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) released several guidance documents concerning the civil rights of students...more
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 adds funding and new programs for institutions of higher education. Appropriates approximately $170 billion for education, including more than $122 billion for elementary and secondary...more
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, no formal flexibility has been granted to schools to deviate from State and federal special education requirements. ...more
As the issues related to the mandated school closures in response to the COVID-19 crisis continue to rapidly evolve, the Governor extended the closure through April 7, and in all likelihood, Illinois schools will remain...more
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has presented unprecedented challenges for public and private educational institutions across the country. As schools evaluate how to move forward, Husch Blackwell and our...more
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) recently issued a “Supplemental Fact Sheet” updating its earlier Questions & Answers and Fact Sheet on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and clarifying that schools should not refrain...more
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has issued guidance to assist educators and educational institutions to ensure that students with disabilities continue to receive services mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities...more
In the wake of Governor Pritzker’s recent order requiring all Illinois schools to close between March 17 and March 30, many schools and school districts have been left guessing how to best serve students with disabilities and...more
As you are all aware, a basic educational requirement in the State of Connecticut is that each school district must make a minimum of 180 days of instruction available to students each school year. ...more
Once again, the Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (“OSERS”) has weighed in on the rights of school districts to limit outside evaluators from accessing school classrooms. The...more
On October 20, 2017, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) within the U.S. Department of Education rescinded 72 education policy guidance documents. Sixty-three of the documents are from the...more
On December 7, 2017, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released a question-and-answer document on the Supreme Court’s 2017 opinion in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, 580 U.S., 137 S.Ct. 988 (2017) (“Endrew”)....more
While education issues are expected to be major priorities in Congress throughout 2018, Congressional leadership left town last year still unable to come to an agreement on the funding of Cost Sharing Reductions (CSRs) and...more
Recently, website accessibility has become a hot topic for schools across the country. Over the last year, the United States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR), has escalated the legal expectation that...more
On February 24, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13777. This order required Federal agencies to evaluate their existing regulations and make recommendations to the agency head regarding their repeal, replacement,...more
Recently, the U.S. Department of Education published regulations to implement Rosa’s Law, legislation enacted in 2010 to replace the term “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability” in federal laws. These laws include...more
At the end of last month, the Department of Education released three new sets of guidance on the federal civil rights laws that govern students with disabilities. All three offer valuable information about current and...more
The Department of Education recently issued a Dear Colleague Letter explaining the obligations of school districts to students with ADHD under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The guidance notes that over the last five...more
“Not so fast!” cried privacy advocates and parents when California federal judge Kimberly Mueller ordered the release of a huge database of personally identifiable student information to a group of plaintiffs’ lawyers. ...more
The U.S. Department of Education (“ED”) recently issued a second Dear Colleague Letter interpreting the Every Student Succeeds Act (“ESSA”), which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (“ESEA”) and...more