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Federal special education funding at risk over compliance issue

Virginia has until early next year to fix gaps in services for students with disabilities or face the consequences.

Chad Stewart at the Virginia Education Association says tens of millions of dollars from the federal government could be at stake unless Virginia solves lingering problems. "Things like alerting parents to the services that should be available to them and also procedures for them to file grievances when services are not being rendered that are required."

Callie Oettinger is a parent in Fairfax County who founded an advocacy group known as Special Education Action. "Students had their services stripped," Oettinger explains. "So they weren't getting the service hours that they might have needed for something like reading or speech or occupational therapy."

Federal law requires that Virginia offer a "free appropriate public education," a goal that state officials are now on the hook to prove that they have accomplished. The deadline is in mid-February.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Governor Glenn Youngkin called the situation a longstanding issue dating back to 2019 and said the state Department of Education is working to ensure compliance.

This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.

Michael Pope is an author and journalist who lives in Old Town Alexandria.