Tag: Covid-19

During this unprecedented situation, two things are clear: students with disabilities still have their right to a free appropriate public education (FAPE), and educators and families must work  together to ensure students with disabilities keep learning. It isn’t easy, and there is still much to learn. But we must work together to do as much as we can for all students.

NCLD has compiled common questions, emerging best practices, and examples of how educators, schools, districts, and states can and should move forward during this challenging time without stepping back from IDEA or civil rights. 

• Part 1: Providing a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)
• Part 2: Family-School Collaboration

These documents are the first in a series that will highlight good ideas, creative thinking, and concrete examples of how families, schools, and communities are working and continue to serve students with disabilities. To get through this, we’ll have to be creative and innovative. We’ll need to work together and help each other.  Let’s start here, and now.

This afternoon, the House passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or the ‘‘CARES Act” which will make many important improvements to help our nation during the COVID-19 crisis. We expect the President to quickly sign the bill into law.

Importantly, the bill: 

• Provides nearly $25 billion for food assistance such as SNAP and child nutrition programs;
• Increases unemployment insurance benefits by $600 per week for up to four months;
• Provides direct payments to eligible individuals and couples (up to a certain income threshold);
• Includes $100 billion in grants to healthcare providers for treating coronavirus plus a 20 percent bump in Medicare payments; 
• Offers a 6-month suspension of federal student loan payments; and
• Includes tax credits for employees to incentivize keeping employees on payroll.  

Education Provisions in the CARES Act

When it comes to education, the bill allows the Secretary of Education to waive provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the Higher Education Act (HEA), and the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. Specifically, states can apply to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to waive federal requirements under ESSA such as the requirement to administer state assessments, provide educator training in person, and the limits on funding spent on technology for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year. Institutions of higher education also have increased flexibility to provide education virtually.  

Regarding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the bill does not provide waiver authority to the Secretary of Education, but does require ED to submit a report to Congress within 30 days indicating which waivers may be needed to help states and districts comply with IDEA. (NCLD is and will continue to work to protect IDEA during this time and we’ll need your help! Stay connected for more information on how you can get involved.)

Funding Boosts in the CARES Act

The total cost of the package is more than $2 trillion. Of particular importance to our community, the law provides $30.75 billion to support public schools and institutions of higher education. Specifically, the Act allocates:

• $13.5 billion for elementary and secondary education to use for planning and coordinating during long-term school closures and purchasing educational technology to support online learning for all students.
• $3 billion for Governors in each state to allocate, at their discretion, emergency support to school districts and institutions of higher education most significantly impacted by coronavirus. 
• $14.250 billion for institutions of higher education to be used to defray expenses such as lost revenue, technology costs associated with a transition to distance education, and grants to students for food, housing, course materials, technology, health care, and child care. 

Other provisions in the bill that impact our students and families include:

• $3.5 billion for Child Care and Development Block Grant for immediate assistance to child care providers to prevent them from going out of business and to otherwise support child care for families, including for healthcare workers, first responders, and others playing critical roles during this crisis.
• $750 million for Head Start programs to help respond to coronavirus related needs of children and families, including making up for lost learning time.
• $1 billion for Community Services Block Grant for local community-based organizations to provide a wide-range of social services and emergency assistance for those who need it most.
• $8.8 billion for Child Nutrition Programs to increase flexibility for schools to feed students. 
• $15.51 billion for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in anticipated increases in participation as a result of coronavirus. 

NCLD is pleased to see this much-needed investment in our schools and communities as we face this unprecedented crisis. However, more is needed. The bill included no funding to close the “homework gap” and provide students with internet access or equipment at home. 

Next Steps for Advocates

Even with the additional funding provided by the CARES Act, there will be a need for more guidance and greater clarity to ensure that states and districts direct these funds toward increasing equity. Funds must be used to support and provide access to students with disabilities, low-income students, English learners, and others who are most impacted by this crisis.

As we near the date in April when Secretary Betsy DeVos submits her report on IDEA waivers, NCLD will be working hard to protect civil rights. Be sure to sign up for our emails so you get real-time alerts and can lend your voice to the cause. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. We need your support to ensure all schools can continue to educate all students.

After passing a bill earlier this week and taking preliminary steps to help our nation amidst the coronavirus crisis, Congress is hard at work on a third package. This time, it includes changes to federal education laws that have NCLD and our fellow advocates very concerned. And it falls far short of the provisions the disability community needs and deserves during this pandemic.

The bill released by Senator McConnell on Thursday evening — the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act — drastically expands the Secretary of Education’s authority to allow states to ignore civil rights provided under federal education laws, including

• the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA);
• the Higher Education Act; and 
• the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. 

Though the CARES Act does not include a waiver of requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), it does direct the Secretary to provide Congress (within 30 days) with a list of the waivers that will be needed for states to implement IDEA. These waivers would free local educational agencies (LEAs) from their legal obligations, such as completing evaluations for students with disabilities, designing and implementing individualized education plans (IEPs), and providing equal educational access to students with disabilities. While it falls short of issuing these blanket waivers right now, in 30 days it will effectively open the door to dangerous and damaging changes to the most important federal protections for students with disabilities.

We recognize that schools have been thrust into a new reality and are being forced to operate in circumstances that present a number of challenges. And yet we cannot give up on students with disabilities and they cannot be left behind. In this unprecedented time, many schools are finding innovative ways to deliver instruction to all students and connect with families. While all schools may not be able to provide the same quality of instruction and intervention virtually, we must encourage and enable them to keep striving.  We must not eliminate a school’s legal obligations and toss students with disabilities to the side!

In addition, we must dramatically boost funding for districts and schools to provide quality virtual learning and the special education services that students are entitled to. Programs like IDEA, Title I of ESSA, and more will need increases through an emergency appropriations bill  to meet the demand of the present situation. Senator McConnell’s bill does nothing to address the funding crisis states are facing.

This package will likely be voted on and passed within the next several days, at which time the Senate will recess for several weeks. NCLD and our civil rights partners have already issued a statement opposing any IDEA waivers and urging only targeted, time-limited waivers under ESSA.  We’ll continue to push for funding and find ways to make sure education is a top priority in Congress’s response to COVID-19.

We are doing all we can, and we need your help! You can lend your voice to this fight now by sending an email to your Senator and urging them to vote no on Senator McConnell’s CARES Act.

Our nation is currently grappling with how to contain and respond to coronavirus (COVID-19) and we are faced with a new reality when it comes to healthcare, education, transportation, and daily living. As we navigate this worldwide pandemic, most of us — including families of students with disabilities — have many questions and concerns. 

To keep you as up to date as possible, NCLD is sharing some of the latest developments from Congress and federal agencies that might help your family during this time.

Guidance to Schools and Districts

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released a guidance document to support students, families and schools in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. In particular, ED reiterated the rights of students with disabilities when schools are closed for long periods of time. For a more thorough discussion of the guidance, see this legal Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on school closings and special education by NCLD’s CEO Lindsay Jones in conjunction with Understood.org.

ED also released a document explaining how COVID-19 might affect statewide assessments and indicated that it would continue to work with states or districts who need flexibility within their accountability systems. 

Other agencies are also providing information to help schools and districts navigate this time. The U.S. Department of Agriculture shared guidance to schools, offering flexibility in how they provide school lunches to their students in need. The Centers for Disease Control also shared guidance on school closures and factors for consideration during this period of time. 

Assistance for Families

Today, Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act — a bill to support families and communities impacted by COVID-19. The bill does four main things to combat this virus and support families.

1. Guarantee sick leave for workers and their families affected by the coronavirus. The bill requires that companies with 500 or fewer employees offer up to 14 days of paid leave for employees infected with the virus. 
2. Increase food aid for families and seniors in need. This bill provides additional funding for the Women Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program and suspends the work and work training requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during this crisis. The bill also allows schools to continue to provide meals to students who are eligible for free and reduced priced lunches.  
3. Free testing for those suspected of being infected. The bill requires – regardless of whether a person has health insurance or not –  a guarantee of free testing for people suspected of being infected.
4. Expanded unemployment insurance: The bill would direct $2 billion to state unemployment insurance programs and waive requirements to those either diagnosed with Covid-19, or those who have lost their jobs due to the spread of the virus.

Many advocates argue that this bill does not go far enough. While the increases to nutrition assistance, testing services, and unemployment insurance are important, more must be done to protect all workers and families — particularly those with disabilities — so they have the ability to stay home when needed in furtherance of public health. 

We expect another legislative proposal to be introduced in the coming days and passed next week which would include an economic stimulus package as well as provisions to increase funding for education programs and services to students and families during this time. We will continue to fight for what families and students need during this time and share resources that may be helpful to you during the coming weeks.