“Evaluating whether a student needs to be in special education or needs a change in services can take weeks if not months; in the meantime, students aren’t learning. School district advocates are encouraging the Trump administration to waive the strict timelines for completing evaluations since districts are struggling to meet students’ basic needs and some parts of an evaluation need to happen face to face.
That could be disastrous for those students. “This disparity between this subpopulation of kids with disabilities versus any other grouping is wide. Any delays … are going to exacerbate that gap. That’s a child’s future that you’re diminishing,” said Steven Aleman, a lawyer for Disability Rights Texas.”
