Commission adopts study to improve Va.’s special education compliance system

A Virginia commission on Tuesday unanimously accepted a study recommending that policymakers separate the Parent Ombudsman for Special Education’s office from the Virginia Department of Education to improve its “neutrality and public trust.”

The recommendation is part of a larger study developed after parents, advocates and lawmakers successfully passed legislation directing the formation of an advisory committee to address the state’s resolution dispute system, designed to resolve problems special needs families face concerning their children’s education. The current system has drawn years of ongoing complaints and a federal investigation.

According to federal law, Virginia must provide all students with disabilities a “free and appropriate public education.” This is accomplished through personalized plans known as the Individualized Education Program (IEP). Last year, Virginia recorded over 185,000 students receiving special education services during the 2024-25 school year.

Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, chair of the Virginia Commission on Youth, told the Mercury ahead of Tuesday’s commission meeting that school systems must honor that mandate.

“That law was intended to ensure that children who may be learning differently are not left out of the school system,” said Favola, adding that the goal is to establish mechanisms to make the resolution system work.

“It’s very challenging because a lot of resources are usually needed to accommodate each child and I know school systems are stretched, but we still have to strive to ensure each child gets a good education.”

In addition to relocating the Ombudsman office, the advisory committee recommended increasing staffing for the office, which would require additional funding. The study outlines the office’s responsibilities, which include providing one-on-one technical assistance to families and schools, monitoring systemic concerns, and making publicly-accessible reports on trends and recommendations, effective January 1, 2027.

Most of the comments the advisory group received were in support of the recommendation, including from representatives of the Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center (PEATC), who said the group “supports efforts to strengthen the work” of the office and to “personnel and resources that could assist more families.” 

Though PEATC did not have a position on the location of the office, the group said “it will be critical for the Parent Ombudsman to have significant special education knowledge and expertise.”

The Virginia Council of Administrators of Special Education, however, said it does not support the recommendation and questioned under whose authority the ombudsman would serve.

“The ombudsman role has just recently been moved from special education to the state superintendent, where a collection of survey data from all parties could clarify the need,” the council said in the study. “Special education knowledge and expertise is critical in this role.”

Some of the study’s other recommendations include training for all stakeholders, rather than just a select few, expanding data collection, and improving special education mediation. 

The list of recommended changes includes ones from the last advisory group meeting about how VDOE tracks data including applicable enforcement actions, consults with parents and families and other “neutral” organizations to help find qualified IEP facilitators and ensures there is a mandatory annual evaluation for mediators that allows parents to share their thoughts about how the mediation system are working.

On Tuesday, speakers expressed opposition to House Bill 2606 by Del. Lee Ware, R-Powhatan, a measure that passed in March and permits a special education due process hearing officer to dismiss a complaint that contains “substantively the same issues as a previously adjudicated due process hearing complaint.” 

The advisory group recommended two options to the commission: the first is to have the State Special Education Advisory Committee further review and provide recommendations to VDOE and state Board of Education. The second option would direct VDOE to report to lawmakers prior to the 2027 General Assembly Session data on hearing officers’ use of the law enacted by HB 2606 to dismiss complaints.

Other speakers at Tuesday’s meeting urged the commission to remove the hearing officers from the due process, mainly because officers have ruled mostly against complainants, according to families. 

“Get rid of them,” Kandise Lucas, an academic civil rights advocate, said on Tuesday. 

“The governor can do an executive order for keeping people out of the bathroom — he can do one for this,” she added, calling the officers “incompetent,” and “negligent” staffers who should lose their licenses. 

“Would you allow a surgeon to continue to operate on children when someone told you that the surgeon is incompetent? No, you would not. I expect accountability and I expect integrity, and we don’t have either right now. So you need to step up, Virginia,” Lucas said.

Commission of Youth Vice Chair Carrie Coyner, D-Chesterfield, said the study is “not perfect, but it is a step in the right direction” that helps to fix concerns including issues with hearing officers.

“My hope is that everyone involved who wants the system to be better for kids continues to work on the details behind the bigger picture,” Coyner said. “We have an outline here of what needs to happen and things that say ‘this should happen’ and ‘that should happen.’ It will take everyone following behind the recommendations and hopefully the budget money — as the senator, so aptly put — that follows behind these changes to make sure that it happens.”

On Tuesday, the Commission on Youth unanimously approved the list of recommendations, which will now head to the governor and lawmakers for consideration ahead of the next General Assembly Session starting in January.

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.