As the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) continues to offload many of its responsibilities to other federal agencies, advocates and lawmakers are pleading for special education services to remain under the jurisdiction of the USDE.
On March 5, 2026, several special education administrative and advocacy organizations led a National Call-in Day aimed at pressuring federal lawmakers to oppose the transfer of special education and civil rights responsibilities out of the USDE.
Currently, the USDE continues to consider moving special education services to another agency “without any explanation of how this benefits students and families,” Chad Rummel, executive director of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), said in an email to K-12 Dive. CEC, a nonprofit for professionals who work in special and gifted education, was one of the groups behind the National Call-in Day.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as amended, requires the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) to identify in writing to local educational agencies regulations, rules, and policies that are state-imposed requirements and not required by IDEA and its regulations (20 USC §1407 (a) (2)). This notice fulfills the requirement to distribute an updated list of state-imposed requirements that exceed IDEA and its regulations.
Chapter 14 (22 Pa. Code Chapter 14)§14.101(Relating to Definitions) §14.104 (Relating to Special Education Plans) §14.105(Relating to Personnel) §14.106(Relating to Access to Instructional Materials)§14.108(Relating to Access to Classrooms) §14.121(Relating to Child Find) §14.123(Relating to Evaluation) §14.122(Relating to Screening) §14.124(Relating to Reevaluation) §14.125(Relating to Criteria for Specific Learning Disability) §14.131(Relating to Individualized Education Program) §14.132(Relating to Extended School Year) §14.133(Relating to Positive Behavior Support) §14.143(Relating to Disciplinary Placements) §14.144(Relating to Facilities) §14.145(Relating to Least Restrictive Environment Requirements) §14.146(Relating to Age Range Restrictions) §14.152(Relating to Child Find, Public Awareness and Screening) §14.153(Relating to Evaluation) §14.154(Relating to Individualized Education Program) §14.155(Relating to Range of Services) §14.156(Relating to System of Quality Assurance) §14.157(Relating to Exit Criteria) §14.158(Relating to Data Collection) §14.162(Relating to Impartial Due Process Hearing and Expedited Due Process Hearing) §14.163 (Relating to Resolution Session)
Chapter 711 (22 Pa. Code Chapter 711)§711.1 (Relating to Definitions) §711.5(Relating to Personnel) §711.6(Relating to Annual Report) §711.7 (Relating to Enrollment) §711.8(Relating to Education Records) §711.9 (Relating to Payments) §711.21(Relating to Child Find) §711.22(Relating to Reevaluation) §711.23(Relating to Screening) §711.24(Relating to Evaluation) §711.25 (Relating to Criteria for the Determination of Specific Learning Disability) §711.41 (Relating to IEP) §711.42(Relating to Transportation) §711.43(Relating to Educational Placement) §711.44(Relating to Extended School Year) §711.45(Relating to Access to Instructional Materials) §711.46(Relating to Positive Behavior Support) §711.61(Relating to Suspension and Expulsion) §711.62(Relating to Procedural Safeguards)
Annually, the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), requires the Pennsylvania DeafBlind Project to conduct the National DeafBlind Child Count. The DeafBlind Child Count records the number of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and students who have deafblindness or who are at risk of developing deafblindness, and who are enrolled in early intervention or special education as of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) child count on , 2025.
The count began with Approved Private School programs in and is in the phase for LEAs and Infant Toddler and Preschool Early Intervention Programs in . You must verify and submit your information no later than , 2026. It is important for Pennsylvania to have an accurate DeafBlind Child Count as this information is tied to funding research, training, and technical assistance for this population of children.
Please be aware that for the DeafBlind Child Count, the federal definition of deafblindness is more inclusive and extensive than the one used for the IDEA child count. Children ages birth through 21 years should be reported in the count if they meet one or more of the following criteria: 1. Infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and students who have a diagnosis of deafblindness and/or receive both vision and hearing support services; 2. Infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and students who have a mild to profound hearing loss and mild to profound vision loss with correction that still requires adaptations or modifications; 3. Infants and toddlers (ages birth-to-three; i.e. Part C) who have a diagnosis that places them at-risk for an intellectual disability with inconsistent responses to visual input and sound. (At-risk means a diagnosis that does not guarantee hearing/vision loss); or 4. Infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and students with multiple disabilities who may demonstrate inconsistent responses to visual input and sound.
It is important for each Early Intervention Program and Local Educational Agency (LEA) to participate in the DeafBlind Child Count. 1. If you do not have any infants, toddlers, preschoolers, or students with deafblindness, you will still need to log in and identify that you are not educating anyone with deafblindness at the present time. 2. If you are educating an infant, toddler, preschooler, or student with deafblindness, you will need to either enter a new record or verify information about a child who already exists in the system. 3. School-Age and Preschool Early Intervention Programs are encouraged to work closely with contracted providers (e.g., Approved Private Schools, Charter Schools for the Deaf or Blind) to ensure an accurate count of children. 4. Connecting families of children who are deafblind with supporting networks and information is vital. A feature of the DeafBlind Child Count is a letter which you will be asked to send to the family of each child listed in your count. The letter provides information which will link families to support and information related to deafblindness.
DeafBlind Child Count – Approved Private School Entries All Approved Private Schools (APSs) entered their student data prior to the DeafBlind Child Count being opened for Early Intervention Programs, school districts, charter schools, and service providers. While there are few infants and toddlers served at APSs, you may see a child in the DeafBlind Child Count which has been entered by an APS. For those programs with many students who qualify, this will save them valuable time. This was done by all APSs even if there are no students who qualify for the DeafBlind Child Count enrolled in their school. As the Early Intervention Program or LEA for these respective children, you must either confirm that the child is your responsibility or reject them if the child is not within your catchment area or in the age range of children you serve. Please be aware that exceptions may exist. After you confirm that you are the Early Intervention Program or LEA for the child, you can update other data as necessary.
DeafBlind Child Count – Early Intervention Programs If you are the Early Intervention Program responsible for providing Early Intervention Services to the entered child, you should confirm that the child is your responsibility. If the child is not the responsibility of your program (i.e., the child is not within your catchment area or in the age range of children you serve), please email dbchildcount@pattankop.net.
Log In Information This year, login has been transitioned to the PDE Integrated Monitoring System, or PDE-IMS. If you believe that you should be receiving these communications and need to be added OR should no longer be receiving these communications and need to be removed, please contact your Chief School Administrator. When you log into IMS at https://www.pdeims.com, the DeafBlind Child Count is labeled as DeafBlind under the Bureau of Special Education section. All functionality in the application remains the same. If you have any questions regarding the data collection system or your responsibilities for entering child data into the DeafBlind Child Count, please email dbchildcount@pattankop.net.
Although the recently passed fiscal year 2026 (FY26) budget for the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) did not ban the outsourcing of certain education programs to other federal agencies, it strongly condemned and discouraged the transfer of key programs out of the USDE. The bicameral and bipartisan statement said that no authorities exist for the USDE “to transfer its fundamental responsibilities under numerous authorizing and appropriations laws” to other federal agencies. It also raised concerns that “fragmenting responsibilities for education programs across multiple agencies will create inefficiencies, result in additional costs to the American taxpayer, and cause delays and administrative challenges in Federal funding reaching States, school districts; and schools.” It also said that there are concerns the interagency agreements will “weaken Federal support to protect the rights of students, children, youth, and families under Federal education laws.”
The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) will continue to target diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in schools under Title VI despite a court block on its controversial February 14, 2025 anti-DEI Dear Colleague letter. That letter announced the USDE’s policy interpreting Title VI, which protects students from discrimination based on race, ethnicity and national origin, to prohibit DEI programs. It said some schools’ race-based equity programs discriminate against White and Asian students and could result in federal funding loss for school districts.
The USDE had appealed to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in October 2025 in an attempt to continue implementing the policy after it was blocked in the lower courts. However, the USDE withdrew its appeal last month and is now exploring other means to implement its anti-DEI efforts. Thus, many suspect that the USDE will take a case-by-case approach to target DEI efforts rather than using the court-blocked policy letter to enact an across-the-board restriction on the programs.