S3434 was signed by Governor Murphy on June 16, 2021. It allows students who turned 21 during the 2020-2021 to continue to receive special education, related services, and transition services through at least the 2021-2022 school year. These services must be provided to those students during the 2021-2022 school year when the Individualized…

"Making the Grade" provides an annual overview of the condition of school finance in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The data in this edition gives a picture of states' investment in their public school systems in the 2019-20 school year, the historic moment when public education, and society at large, experienced the massive…

In March 2021, the Legislature enacted HB 4048, which amended the State School Aid Act to appropriate supplemental funding for public education, including approximately $1.5 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER II) funds awarded to the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) by Congress under the Federal Coronavirus…

In the decade following the Great Recession, students across the U.S. lost nearly $600 billion from the states' disinvestment in their public schools. Data from 2008-2018 show that, if states had simply maintained their fiscal effort in PK-12 education at pre-Recession levels, public schools would have had over half a trillion dollars more in…

Students have the right to be screened and identified for English Learner (EL) status during remote learning. Even if schools are operating by remote instruction, students, between the ages of 3 and 20, have the right to be screened and to be identified as an EL within 30 days of enrollment. This short fact sheet describes some of the basic rights…

This brief is part of Education Law Center's "Tracking State Aid Cuts in the Pandemic" series. In June 2020, amid the economic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Georgia Legislature enacted a 10% cut in state aid for K-12 public education totaling $950 million. The cut applied equally to all school districts, without regard…

This brief is part of Education Law Center's "Tracking State Aid Cuts in the Pandemic" series. Michigan schools have struggled with reductions in funding over the last decade. In July, the Michigan Legislature approved a state aid cut of $175 per pupil, totaling $256 million. The cut was applied equally to all districts, from those with…

The closure of school buildings due to the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a particular hardship for many students with disabilities and their families. School buildings were closed effective March 18, 2020 through the end of the 2019-20 school year, and only some schools started the 2020-21 school year with traditional in-person classroom…

The closure of school buildings due to the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a particular hardship for many students with disabilities and their families. School buildings were closed effective March 18, 2020 through the end of the 2019-20 school year, and only some schools have started the 2020-21 school year with traditional in-person classroom…

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting shift to virtual learning brought into sharp relief the inequities that English Learners (ELs) experience in New Jersey's public education system. Despite tremendous work on the part of educators, parents, and other caregivers to provide continuity of learning during this time, their efforts were hindered by…

"Making the Grade analyzes the condition of public school funding in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The current report presents a picture of school funding in 2020-2021, the first full school year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the most recent data available. The report ranks and grades each state on three measures to answer the…

This brief is part of Education Law Center's "Tracking State Aid Cuts in the Pandemic" series. Against a backdrop of significant underfunding even before the pandemic, the Texas Education Agency announced in June that federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding would be used in place of the final payments…

Compensatory education, also known as compensatory services, is a judicially created remedy which entitles a student to receive additional special education and related services, accommodations, and modifications when their rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have been violated. This report contains answers to…

Compensatory education, also known as compensatory services, is a judicially created remedy which entitles a student to receive additional special education and related services, accommodations, and modifications when their rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have been violated. This report contains answers to…