The US Department of Education is rescinding 72 special education guidelines.
For students with learning and developmental disabilities, this won’t change their individual education plans or the way they’re taught, but it will have an impact on advocacy groups because they use those guidelines to help parents and educators navigate the education system and understand the law.
In February, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to eliminate unnecessary regulations, so the Department of Education and Secretary Betsy DeVos started examining which regulations may be obsolete and repetitive.
Yvette Plummer-Burkhalter runs the Thrive Center for families with learning disabilities and says some of the 72 guidelines are out of date, but she still depends heavily on about 10 of them.
“We use the guidelines to help us understand what’s going on with the law because there could be a law, but how do they implement it. What does it mean, I mean you have a lot of questions,” Said Plummer- Burkhalter.
Tuesday, the Department of Education is holding a conference call for advocates and parents like Plummer-Burkhalter who hope to hear why the guidelines are being dismissed, and if they will be replaced by more efficient ones.
