Civic Register
| 10.25.17

Secretary DeVos Changes Guidance for Special Needs Students

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What’s the story?

The Department of Education has rescinded 72 policy guidelines on the rights of students with disabilities as part of President Donald Trump’s executive order "to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens."

On Friday, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services revealed that it had "a total of 72 guidance documents that have been rescinded due to being outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective - 63 from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and 9 from the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA)."

The special education documents outlined the rights of disabled students and explained how federal funds could be used for special education. They were meant to clarify aspects of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"), which federally mandates that children with disabilities must receive a “free, appropriate public education” in the “least restrictive environment.”

Why does it matter?

Elizabeth Hill, a spokeswoman for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, said "There are absolutely no policy implications to these rescission. Students with disabilities and their advocates will see no impact on services provided."

Bill Koski, the director of the Youth and Education Law Project at Stanford University, told the Washington Post that the Education Department’s move "does look like housekeeping to me more than anything else. I don’t know that it will change practice in any way."

But Lindsay Jones, the chief policy and advocacy officer for the National Center for Learning Disabilities, told the Post that "all of these [rescinded documents] are meant to be very useful… in helping schools and parents understand and fill in with concrete examples the way the law is meant to work when it's being implemented in various situations"

This is a view shared by special education lawyer Jerry Tanenbaum. Speaking with LawNewz, Tanenbaum explained that "most families with children with special needs cannot afford attorneys" and “rely on information they can research themselves” to verify what they may be told by their school districts.

"Much of the information out there is either wrong or confusing — but one thing families could count on was guidance letters from the Department of Education, which for the most part are written in language lay people can understand, and are often on topics that fall into gray areas in the law that even lawyers were unclear about."

DeVos herself seemed unclear on the law during her confirmation hearing. Asked if she supported "the federal requirement" protecting students with disabilities, DeVos said the issue was “certainly worth discussion” and best left to the states.

Later in the hearing, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), whose son has cerebral palsy, pressed DeVos on the law.

"Were you unaware, when I just asked you about IDEA, that it was a federal law?" Hassan asked. DeVos replied that she “may have confused it.”

Following the Education Department’s rescinding, Hassan alluded to this exchange when she tweeted:

What do you think?

Was the Education Department right in rescinding the documents as part of Trump’s executive order "to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens"? Does it seem like “housekeeping” to you? Or did the deregulation get rid of the “one thing families could count on”? Hit Take Action, tell your reps, then tell your fellow citizens below.

—Josh Herman

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(Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore / Creative Commons)