The $2 trillion CARES Act gives Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos thirty days to propose provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that should be waived by Congress. Special education advocates have expressed concern, if not outright alarm, that waivers could gut important civil rights protections for students with disabilities. School districts, however, are worried about being held accountable for providing hands-on services during the pandemic that would be impossible without putting the health and safety of their staff at risk.

In this forum, Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education at University of Washington Bothell, and John M. McLaughlin, managing partner of McLaughlin Advisors, debate whether DeVos should in fact propose any IDEA provisions to be waived, and if so, which ones, and why.

Don’t Waive Rights, Require Districts To Make a Good Faith Effort

By Robin J. Lake

Waive Away—But Tackle the Big Longstanding Issues, not just the Immediate Technical Ones

By John M. McLaughlin