What Does Federal Law Say about Vouchers and Students With Disabilities?
June 8, 2017
By: Christina Samuels
Source: Education Week
Anyone watching U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ testimony Tuesday before a Senate education appropriations subcommittee heard some version of this statement secretary several times: “Schools that receive federal funds must follow federal laws.”
That was her response to questions about whether any school that receives federal money for vouchers would be allowed to discriminate by gender or by sexual orientation, for example.
My colleagues Arianna Prothero and Andrew Ujifusa have written about anti-bias provisions in state voucher programs more broadly, but I want to explore what federal law has to say about students with disabilities more specifically.
The answer, in a nutshell, as always: It’s complicated.
Why this matters now is…