Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

Chicago — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul co-led a multistate coalition of 16 attorneys general in filing a comment letter opposing the Trump administration’s proposal to remove reporting requirements that ensure the U.S. Department of Education meets its obligation to oversee how states determine whether school districts have significant racial and ethnic disparities in special education programming and student discipline.

“Data and research have shown for decades that students are disproportionately identified for special education and related services based on race and ethnicity,” Raoul said. “It is important that these imbalances are accurately documented so that they can be addressed.”

Children of color are disproportionately identified as children with disabilities and placed in segregated, restrictive special education settings at substantially higher rates than their peers. There is concern that some of these children may be misidentified, potentially putting them at a disadvantage in their education. Misidentification interferes with a school’s ability to provide children with appropriate educational services and raises concerns of potential inequities in educational opportunities and outcomes.

The U.S. Department of Education, through its Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) regulations, has for years sought to bring critical awareness to the problem, and to ensure that state and local educational agencies are working to address it. However, under its new proposal, the department seeks to improperly remove the requirement that states report changes to their methodology for calculating significant disproportionality, falsely claiming that doing so will relieve states’ administrative burden. Raoul and the attorneys general argue in their comment letter that the benefits of tracking this important information outweigh any potential burdens to states when collecting and reporting the data. 

Raoul and the attorneys general assert that the reporting is necessary for the department to evaluate whether states are using appropriate strategies to accurately identify and address disproportionate representation in special education, rather than hide it. If the department eliminates the reporting requirement, it will be impossible for its Office of Special Education Programs to assess the reasonableness of any changes that states may make to their policies. Raoul and the coalition point out that some states may revert to prior practices that could prevent them from identifying the magnitude of racial and ethnic overrepresentation in special education and in which students receive discipline. Without publicly available information on how states calculate these imbalances, decisions about which local education agencies are identified and required to take corrective action will occur behind closed doors, shielded from both department oversight and meaningful public scrutiny.

Attorney General Raoul led the collation with California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Joining them in filing the comment letter are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.