‘Just Listen’: Why disability advocates are warily eyeing federal education funding debate

The Tennessean, 10/19/23

Jeff Strand, the Tennessee Disability Coalition’s government affairs coordinator, said the state could replicate parts of federal law to ensure similar disability protections continue. State code already includes certain tenets of IDEA, such as the right to a “”free “appropriate” education and individualized education plans. But by giving up federal IDEA funding, the state could lose independent oversight of the accommodations for those with disabilities, and there doesn’t appear to be state code guaranteeing parental and teacher participation like IDEA does.