March 27, 2023, U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) publicly released the status of various monitoring activities, citing closure of monitoring of Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, and Arizona, and expanded monitoring of Virginia.
Some of the close-out letters are dated over a year ago, so it’s unclear why USDOE waited so long to release this information to the public.
2019-2021 Investigations Opened
USDOE announced monitoring of Hawaii in 2019; of Arizona, Florida, and Virginia in 2020; and of Delaware in 2021. USDOE closed out monitoring of four of the five states within one-to-three years.
Virginia is the Exception
In the case of Virginia, it is on track to take more than three years to come into compliance with Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA).
USDOE issued its DMS report June 2020, announcing the monitoring. Subsequent letters obtained by Special Education Action indicate Virginia refused to come into compliance and instead pushed back on USDOE, at times delaying and refusing to hold meetings, and complaining that it was being held to a high standard, and that in reality there were only a small handful of parents complaining about VDOE. March 27, 2023, USDOE posted a January 17, 2023, status update letter, but failed to post the February 17, 2023, DMS letter that Special Education Action obtained via a FOIA request. The February letter announces an expansion of monitoring, to include additional focuses, with repeat mentions of Virginia longstanding noncompliance.
Access the Documents
To access USDOE’s recently released DMS documents, click on the links listed below.
Arizona:
USDOE posted an August 2, 2022, DMS close-out letter; a Sept. 11, 2020, DMS Monitoring Report; a Feb. 14, 2022, DMS Corrective Action Plan; and a March 1, 2023 DMS Closeout Letter. A Jan. 13, 2020, DMS Monitoring Report previously appeared on the site.
Delaware
USDOE posted a Dec. 13, 2022, DMS Closeout letter. A January 19, 2021 DMS Monitoring Report previously had been posted to the site.
Florida
USDOE posted a March 2, 2023, DMS Closeout Letter. A December 18, 2020, DMS letter previously had been posted to the site. Under Part C DMS, a Jan. 19, 2021, DMS Monitoring Report appears to remain open.
Hawaii
USDOE posted a July 20, 2020, DMS Closeout Letter. It’s unclear why USDOE waited more than two years to publicly release this document. A July 18, 2019 DMS Monitoring Report under Part B DMS and a September 11, 2019, DMS Monitoring Report under Part C DMS previously appeared on the site.
Virginia
January 17, 2023 DMS Status letter posted to the site. It’s unclear why the February 17, 2023, DMS letter that Special Education Action obtained via a FOIA request was not posted to the site. A June 23, 2020, DMS Monitoring Report previously appeared on the site.
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