Progress on One Front, a Widening Gap on Another: Two July Reports Schools Should Read

Written By Lauren Koster

Federal data shows real gains in including students with disabilities, even as the oversight behind that progress is being dismantled. New Connecticut numbers show who is still being left out of college. Both ask the same question: does the system deliver equal opportunity, or reproduce the gaps it inherits?

Two reports out this month point in different directions but land on the same theme, and both matter to the schools we serve.

The first is national. A new Government Accountability Office report found that the number of students with disabilities spending most of their day in general-education classrooms grew about 25% between 2012 and 2024, with the largest gains among students in fully inclusive settings. That is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) working as intended: since 1975, the law has required that children with disabilities be educated alongside their peers whenever appropriate, and research consistently ties inclusion to stronger academic, social, and post-graduation outcomes.

The concern is what comes next. The Federal infrastructure that produced those gains is being pulled apart. Staff cuts, a drop in State monitoring visits from roughly ten a year to two, and the move of special-education oversight from the Department of Education to the Department of Health and Human Services (formalized in a contentious June 16 interagency agreement opposed by representatives from all administrations from Nixon to Biden) raise the same risk: less accountability and less support at the State and district level.

We were glad to see the Center for Learner Equity (CLE), a valued partner and client of Commonlight Legal, quoted in The 74's coverage. CLE is a national nonprofit focused on students with disabilities in charter and choice schools, and its point goes to the heart of inclusion. As Interim Executive Director Jennifer Coco put it, the goal is to treat students with disabilities as “students first,” starting from the presumption that they belong in the general-education classroom. When Federal guardrails recede, more of the work of protecting that presumption falls to schools and their boards.

The second report is even closer to home. CT Insider’s analysis of state data found that postsecondary enrollment in Connecticut fell after the pandemic, and the decline was steepest among the students already least likely to enroll. For the class of 2024, students receiving free or reduced-price lunch enrolled at a rate 25 percentage points below their peers, roughly 2,000 fewer students. Black and Latino students enrolled 8 and 14 points below the state average. Economic background tracked enrollment even more closely than race, and the wealthiest districts posted the highest rates. Notably, at least one mission-driven charter, Elm City College Preparatory in New Haven, reached an 83% enrollment rate, well above districts with similar demographics.

For charter and independent school leaders across the jurisdictions we serve, the practical takeaways are concrete:

  • As Federal special-education monitoring recedes, the compliance and quality burden under IDEA shifts toward schools and governing boards. Documentation, staffing, and inclusion practices deserve a fresh look now, not after an issue surfaces.

  • The enrollment data is a reminder that school design and mission move outcomes. Schools serving higher-need students can and do outperform expectations, and their governance choices matter.

Sources

Lauren Koster https://commonlightlegal.com
Next

What 2026’s Education Laws Mean for Schools in Connecticut and New York