May 16, 2025
The Boost News
How the new administrator of New York’s CDPAP program is failing just about everyone, the ‘R-word’ is not going away, and more developmental disability news for the week ending May 16, 2025.
SPOTLIGHT: SCHOOL DISCIPLINE
Some states reexamine school discipline as Trump order paves go-ahead (Stateline)
Last month, President Trump signed an executive order to reinstate “common sense” school discipline, which repeals prior federal guidance that encouraged schools to address racial disparities in discipline. Now, reports Stateline, some states may follow suit and expand the authority of teachers and school officials to deal with disruptive students.
This is worrisome news not only for minority populations, but for students with disabilities. A host of data backs this up. For instance, the Ed Department’s Office for Civil Rights found that in the 2020-2021 school year, students with disabilities, who represent 12% of the enrollment in K-12 schools, accounted for 29% of students who received one or more out-of-school suspensions and 21% who received expulsions.
RELATED NEWS: Corporal Punishment Now Banned in All New York Schools
And in May of last year, The Hechinger Report reported that many states don’t share why kids are being kicked out of school, with discipline experts warning that a lack of guardrails can be used to justify suspensions for any behaviors, including minor ones.
There is some good news, Stateline writes. In recent years, some other states have passed laws promoting restorative practices in schools, in which students and teachers work through problems and focus on repairing the harm caused by disruptions or conflict.
Oh, and by the way, there’s this: Trump Official’s Autism Schools Secluded and Restrained Students at High Rates (The 74 Million)
NEW YORK
Nonprofit group homes in New York face funding shortfall, leading to staffing crisis To add to this article, Governor Hochul’s refusal, once again, to make competitive wages available to non-profit human services workers and Direct Support Professionals will exacerbate this crisis. (AM NY)
New York bill introduced proposing new CDPAP compromise It’s a little unclear what this bill will do, but it seems to move things in a better direction. (NY State of Politics)
Commentary: PPL is failing caregivers and the people they care for “Despite what Gov. Hochul says, the problems affecting the CDPAP transition are far more than ‘hiccups.'” (Times Union)
‘They will be set back’: Clarence parents push back on relocation of specialized education classes (WKBW)
Churchill: For disability rights advocate, this ‘compassion’ is a threat A bill allowing physician-assisted death passed in the Assembly has some worried: “If they can’t stop people with disabilities from being born, then they’ll use assisted suicide to take them out on the other end.” (Times Union)
OUTSIDE OF NEW YORK
Bridgeport, Conn., school board backs plan to build new $125M school, $75M special education center (CT Post)
People with intellectual disabilities died and were injured at Pa. group homes. Regulators are taking action (MSN via Philadelphia Inquirer)
Missouri unveils plan to transform program for students with disabilities Missouri is the only state to operate separate day schools for special education, dubbed the Missouri Schools for the Severely Disabled. (Missouri Independent)
Oklahoma law now bans corporal punishment for students with disabilities (Oklahoma Voice)
EDUCATION
OPINION: In Trump’s America, All Parents and Children for Themselves That the money earmarked for IDEA provide states with greater flexibility, which could mean drastically reducing oversight of how states use that money, is “our worst nightmare.” (New York Times)
The Dept of Ed Forced Idaho to Stop Denying Disabled Students an Education. Then Trump Gutted Its Staff. (ProPublica)
AUTISM
Everyone isn’t ‘a little bit autistic’ – here’s why this notion is harmful (The Conversation)
Experts call Kennedy’s plan to find autism’s cause unrealistic It ignores decades of science linking about 200 genes that play a role — and the quest to understand differences inside the brain that can be present at birth. (AP)
How RFK Jr. is shaping the conversation about autism and why advocates are pushing back (PBS)
MORE ON THE ‘R-WORD’
The ‘R-word,’ embraced by Joe Rogan and Elon Musk, inches back into the mainstream (NBC News)
BREAKTHROUGHS
An Undaunted Writer Who Broke an Invisible Barrier in Japan Saou Ichikawa is the country’s first severely disabled author to win a top literary prize. Her novel “Hunchback” is an angry cry against “ableist machismo.” (New York Times)