Category: Government Actions

PDE Provides Special Education Resources (September 19, 2025)

The Pennsylvania Department of Education, Bureau of Special Education, is sharing important resources for Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) to review as the 2025-2026 school year begins. The following links provide essential information regarding students with disabilities.Basic Education Circulars:
–Disciplinary Exclusions of Students Who Are Eligible for Special Education
–Extended School Year
–Eligibility Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) and Educational Placement for Students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs)
–Use of Restraints for Students with Disabilities

Other Timely Resources:
–Procedural Safeguards Notice
–Individualized Education Program (IEP) (Annotated)
–Attract Prepare Retain Repository
–Special Education ConsultLine


Please contact Samantha Pudloski or Lisa Hauswirth with questions.

New Scholarship Opportunity for PA Students!

America250PA, the state’s commission charged with helping to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary, announced it is now accepting applications for its Semiquincentennial Scholarship Program.
The organization plans to award $250,000 in scholarships, $10,000 each to 25 deserving students attending Pennsylvania colleges and universities in the 2026-27 academic year. A dozen of those scholarships will go to students attending a Pennsylvania community college, while the remainder will go to students attending any Pennsylvania post-secondary college or university.
Additional information and a link to the application are available here.

Although the U.S. Department of Energy Withdraws Controversial Title IX Rule, More Are on the Horizon (September 15, 2025)

As reported by K-12 Dive, the U.S. Department of Energy has canceled plans to issue a rule that would have removed a regulatory requirement for schools receiving funding from the agency. The requirement in question was  meant to level the playing field between boys and girls in athletics. Specifically, the Energy Department’s new rule would have no longer required schools receiving Energy Department funding to provide girls a chance to try out for contactless boys’ sports teams in cases where no equivalent sports team exists for them. Under current requirements, girls must be allowed to try out for spots on the boys’ baseball team if there is no girls’ softball team. 

In May 2025, the Trump administration quietly proposed rescinding this requirement, along with a handful of other regulatory changes, by issuing a “direct final rule.” That process is usually reserved for uncontroversial regulations that are not expected to receive pushback, allowing an agency to issue new policies without incorporating changes based on public feedback. 

However, on September 10th the Energy Department said it was withdrawing the proposed change entirely after it received over 21,000 comments — many of them opposing the changes. The rescission came after the administration initially delayed the rule’s July 14 effective date until Sept. 12 amid significant pushback. 

Regardless, a handful of other changes remain on the Energy Department’s docket that would impact schools receiving the agency’s grants. For example, the agency still plans to move forward with a rule that would no longer require schools to prevent systemic racial discrimination that may result from seemingly neutral policies. The Energy Department has twice delayed that proposal’s effective date as a result of pushback, most recently to December 9, 2025.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

Federal Judges Block Trump Policy Requiring Immigration Status Verification for Head Start (September 12, 2025)

In back-to-back court orders issued September 10th and September 11th, federal judges in Washington and Rhode Island temporarily blocked a controversial Trump administration policy that would exclude some immigrants from federal programs, including in education.

In July, a handful of agencies including the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services changed their policies to require immigration status verification for programs like Head Start, as well as adult education and career training programs.  For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

Trump Administration Cancels Millions in Funds from Special Ed. Programs (September 12, 2025)

According to Disability Scoop, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) is canceling millions of dollars in grants for special education teacher training, parent resource centers and more saying that they don’t align with Trump administration priorities. In fact, The USDE’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) terminated grants for 25 programs funded under Part D of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The money, totaling more than $14.8 million, was for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2025 and was expected by state education departments, nonprofits, universities, and other entities across 16 states. In addition, USDE’s Rehabilitation Services Administration also ended another nine grants for disability-focused initiatives worth over $3.5 million. Notifications about the canceled grants cited language in the funding applications referencing diversity, equity, inclusion, racism and similar terms.

The canceled grants included funding for community parent resource centers, preparing special education teachers and related service providers, Braille and interpreter training and programs supporting those who are deafblind, among other initiatives. In Wisconsin, the state’s Department of Public Instruction learned late last week that two grants would be canceled, one for personnel development and another to serve 170 students who have both vision and hearing loss. The grants were both in the middle of a five-year grant cycle. A notice of noncontinuation from the USDE also went to four deafblind projects in Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin and a consortium of New England states including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

One noncontinuation notice said continuing the project “would be in conflict with agency policy and priorities, and so is not in the best interest of the Federal Government.”

Stephanie Smith Lee, who served as director of the Office of Special Education Programs under President George W. Bush, said there is “simply no precedent” for any administration canceling so many IDEA Part D grants all at once in the middle of a grant cycle. For more details from Disability Scoop, click here.