The Uncertain Future of Special Education: Presidential Authority and the Proposed Shift to HHS - With the United States Department of Education in a state of flux at the national level, one question that looms large is the...more
Generally, independent schools intentionally refrain from participating in the majority of federal funding programs, preserving their ability to ensure the educational program is provided in a manner that is reflective of...more
The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (DEW) oversees Ohio’s implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), a federal law that entitles children with disabilities to a free appropriate...more
On March 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order (“EO”) titled “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities,” directing the Secretary of Education to undertake all...more
Issues related to education in the country were not widely discussed during the most recent presidential election, yet they remain central to ongoing policy debates. On February 5, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an...more
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
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