2023-24 Quarterly Webinar Series
Topic: New Section 504 Regulations — Anticipated Regulation Release Date: August of 2023
In May 2022, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it intends to amend the regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”) for the first time in more than 45 years. On June 21, 2023, the federal government announced that it intends to release a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in August 2023. These new regulations are expected to make Section 504 more like IDEA, with the only real difference being the absence of the requirement to provide specially designed instruction to students who are found to be disabled only under the Section 504 definition. Once the Notice of the Proposed Rulemaking is announced, the process will not yet be complete. It will be published in the Federal Register to notify the public of the proposal and give the public an opportunity to provide comments specific to the proposal. However, given the huge effect that the final rules will have on what schools may be required to do in regards to identifying, evaluating, and providing accommodations to students with disabilities under Section 504, schools will need as much advance warning about these regulation as possible. The attorneys at KSB School Law will provide a three hour overview of the proposed regulations once they are announced, including a comparison between the old and new regulations, along with suggestions on what schools should do to get ready for the new regulations. If you want to get a sense of the comments that have already been submitted on this issue, you can access a summary here.
Topic: New Title IX Regulations — Anticipated Regulation Release Date: October of 2023
In July of 2022, the US Department of Education released proposed revisions to the regulations enforcing Title IX. The Department received more than 240,000 public comments on the proposed rule – nearly twice as many comments as the Department received during its last rulemaking on Title IX. In May of 2023, the Department announced that it would finalize these revised regulations in October of 2023. US DOE also intends to include new rules on Athletics participation with these more general regulations. (The draft Athletics regs received over 150,000 comments during its public comment period from April 12 – May 15, 2023.) The attorneys at KSB School Law will provide a three hour overview of the new regulations once they are announced, including a comparison between the old, the newer and the newest regulations. If you just can’t wait to see what these regs might say, you can access the July 2022 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking here and you can access the Athletics Notice of Proposed Rulemaking here.
Topic: New FERPA Regulations — Anticipated Regulation Release Date: April of 2024
The Department of Education has announced that it is going to commence a rulemaking under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). These regulations are expected to include an updated definition of “maintain” in light of the digital educational environment, an update to required parental notification and sent forms and guidance to schools and school districts regarding contracting with third-party vendors. The Department has also announced that it intends to release guidance on the use of internet-enabled devices (both personal and school-provided) and services in both elementary and secondary schools. Obviously these new regulations will have an enormous impact on how Nebraska schools operate. This webinar will feature a 3 hour review of the old and new regulations, with an emphasis on how schools can practically comply without a huge description to their existing practices. The Department’s formal announcement still has April of 2023 listed as the target date for the release of these new regulations, so we anticipate draft regulations to drop sometime during the near future.
Topic: What’s the Big IDEA With All These Regs? How the New Title IX, FERPA and Section 504 Regulations Will Interact with Special Education Issues — Anticipated Dates for Webinar: May or June of 2024
None of the regulatory revisions that the US Department of Education is proposing will exist in isolation. Title IX, FERPA and Section 504 have huge implications for special education students as well. In this final webinar of the 23-24 school year, the KSB attorneys will examine the interaction of these regulations with the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.