Latest news with #IDEA
Time of India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
US Department of Education to reform special needs programs with more access, choice, and new learning models
The US Department of Education is moving toward a significant overhaul of its special needs programs, aiming to offer students with disabilities more personalized options, greater access, and innovative approaches to learning. This shift signals a new era in how special education is delivered across the country, with a focus on flexibility and family empowerment. Shifting the system to fit the student The department's new direction prioritizes student-centered learning models over traditional, one-size-fits-all structures. The reform aims to allow families to choose schools and programs that align better with the unique needs of their children, rather than forcing students to conform to rigid institutional norms. The approach calls for school systems to adopt more customized learning strategies, expand specialized services, and integrate modern educational tools. By broadening access to different types of schools—including charter, private, and online programs—students with disabilities are expected to gain more opportunities for success. Adapting a decades-old law to a modern world At the core of this transformation is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a federal law passed in 1975 to guarantee educational rights for children with disabilities. Nearly 8 million students aged 3 to 21 are currently eligible under IDEA, along with hundreds of thousands of younger children. While the law remains foundational, the Department of Education is emphasizing the need to modernize its implementation. This includes incorporating 21st-century learning tools, allowing for more flexibility in service delivery, and encouraging schools to think beyond compliance and toward innovation. Growing focus on school choice The reforms align with the current administration's broader education agenda, which includes expanding school choice options through federal tax incentives. A new provision passed by Congress enables funding for private school tuition, homeschooling, tutoring, transportation, and technology—if states opt in. However, this expansion into private and alternative schooling has raised concerns about equity and oversight. Critics point out that private institutions are not bound by the same legal obligations as public schools, particularly when it comes to accommodating students with disabilities. Balancing innovation and civil rights Despite ongoing staffing cuts at the Education Department, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) remains intact—indicating that special education remains a key area of focus. The Department is encouraging state and district leaders to rethink how special needs services are designed and delivered, urging them to adopt new models while staying grounded in civil rights protections. The reform effort also includes plans to give states and districts more decision-making power, allowing local leaders to tailor their programs according to community needs and student diversity. The road ahead Implementation of these reforms will vary by state, depending on whether local governments choose to adopt the new federal programs and funding structures. In the coming years, the Department hopes to see a broader mix of school models, including public, private, charter, and specialized schools designed to support different learning needs. This marks a major shift in how special education is viewed—not just as a service, but as a system that should evolve with the needs of modern learners and their families. TOI Education is on WhatsApp now. Follow us here . Ready to navigate global policies? Secure your overseas future. Get expert guidance now!
Business Wire
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
BioTalent Canada Earns National DEI Honour for Third Year—Continues to Raise the Bar in Workplace Inclusion
OTTAWA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BioTalent Canada has once again been named a 5-Star Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Employer by Canadian HR Reporter. This recognition underscores the organization's leadership in fostering inclusive workplace practices and driving change across Canada's bio-economy. 'Our IDEA strategy isn't just a framework—it's something we try to live every day.' Selected as one of 14 winners, BioTalent Canada stands out for embedding IDEA—Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility— into every aspect of its operations. The national award celebrates employers that are not only making meaningful internal change but also setting the tone for others in their sector. 'Our IDEA strategy isn't just a framework—it's something we try to live every day,' says Rob Henderson, President and CEO of BioTalent Canada. 'We're proud to be recognized for our efforts, but prouder to represent a best practice for Canada's bio-economy.' An internal employee engagement survey conducted in 2025 revealed that: 94% of staff reported that BioTalent Canada follows through on its IDEA commitments. 97% felt the organization is an inclusive workplace where people of all different backgrounds, cultures and beliefs are treated fairly. 100% of staff reported feeling welcome and included in BioTalent Canada's culture. BioTalent Canada's commitment to IDEA extends beyond its own team. As a national workforce development council, the organization equips small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with practical, evidence-based tools to help them compete for talent and build inclusive workplace cultures. According to BioTalent Canada's national labour market intelligence report, Canada's bio-economy will require 65,000 new workers by 2029—a demand many SMEs struggle to meet. To support employers, BioTalent Canada offers: The I.D.E.A.L. Bioscience Employer™ Recognition Program, which helps build employer brand and credibility An employer resource toolkit to help integrate IDEA into recruitment, onboarding and retention BioTalent Canada's award-winning approach to IDEA extends beyond its internal practices and employer supports—it also reaches the next generation of talent. In 2024, the organization launched the I.D.E.A.L. Scholarship™, providing financial support to Indigenous students and persons with disabilities entering their first year of a bioscience post-secondary program. In 2025, the scholarship was expanded to include newcomers to Canada, reinforcing BioTalent Canada's long-term commitment to removing barriers and creating a more equitable, diverse talent pipeline for the bio-economy. 'Our goal is to build a bio-economy where every employer—regardless of size or resources—can compete for talent, foster innovation and create welcoming workplaces,' adds Henderson. 'This award reflects our belief that IDEA represents not only a values-based choice, but a competitive advantage.' To learn more about the I.D.E.A.L. Bioscience Employer Recognition Program, visit Is it important for your organization to stay updated on the latest HR trends and practices? Contact Soufiane at info@ to find out how BioTalent Canada can help. Rob Henderson is available for comment. About BioTalent Canada BioTalent Canada supports the people behind life-changing science. Trusted as the go-to source for labour market intelligence, BioTalent Canada guides bio-economy stakeholders with evidence-based data and industry-driven standards. BioTalent Canada, as a workforce development council, is focused on igniting the industry's brainpower, bridging the gap between job-ready talent and employers, and ensuring the long-term agility, resiliency, and sustainability of one of Canada's most vital sectors. BioTalent Canada has received varied distinctions following a thorough and independent analysis of the organization. By practicing the same industry standards it recommends to partners, the organization has been honored with the following titles: Great Place to Work ® since 2019 and one of the Best Workplaces in Healthcare for 2023 by Great Place to Work Canada ® The Best Leader in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the 2024 Best Ottawa Business Awards 2024 Collaboration Catalyst by Magnet Network One of Canada's Best Places to Work by HRD Canada for 2024 5-Star Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Employer by Canadian HR Reporter since 2023 For more information, visit To determine the companies with the most effective DE&I programs, Canadian HR Reporter first invited organizations to participate by filling out an employer form, which asked them to explain their diversity and inclusion initiatives and practices. Next, employees from nominated companies were asked to fill out an anonymous form evaluating their workplace on a number of metrics. To be considered, each organization had to reach a minimum number of employee responses based on overall size. Organizations that achieved an 80 per cent or greater average satisfaction rating from employees were named 5-Star Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Employers for 2025. For more information, visit
USA Today
7 days ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Trump praises Sydney Sweeney ad, but does he know American Eagle is super WOKE?
Sydney Sweeney may be a registered Republican, but I have discovered that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is – and it pains me to write this – incredibly, unconscionably woke. President Donald Trump took time away from making America great again to praise the recent American Eagle jeans ad starring Sydney Sweeney, hailing it for not being 'WOKE.' But I have an urgent message for President Trump: SIR, YOU HAVE FALLEN INTO A WOKENESS TRAP THAT I ASSUME WAS SET BY RADICAL LEFTISTS! If you're a patriotic MAGA supporter like me who has been applauding the company for triggering the libs with its Sweeney ad, which features the 'Euphoria' star talking about having 'good jeans,' you might want to sit down. I have discovered that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is – and it pains me to write this – incredibly, unconscionably woke. American Eagle used the Sydney Sweeney ad to lure Trump into a woke trap! The company clearly tried to avoid wokeness detection by avoiding the usual red-flag DEI and instead calling its anti-American policy 'IDEA,' which stands for 'Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access.' AEO's corporate website is riddled with wildly liberal ideas like this: 'Difference and individuality make AEO stronger, higher-performing and more innovative.' Opinion: MAGA is realizing Trump lies. How can they trust anything he says on Epstein? There are sentences like this that absolutely reek of the kind of inclusivity President Trump and his administration have been working so hard to defeat: 'A sense of belonging is critical for associates to bring their whole, authentic selves to work.' Authentic selves? Where am I, in some blue-state coffee shop surrounded by communist libs talking about their feelings? MAGA world has rallied around Sweeney and American Eagle Given the way my fellow MAGA Republicans reacted to the Sweeney blue-jeans ad, I thought American Eagle was a company I could support. The sensible right saw a few people on the left claiming that the 'good jeans' ad was messaging that a blond, blue-eyed white woman was genetically superior. So everyone from Fox News to Vice President JD Vance got their dander up and slammed the leftist ninnies. 'So you have a pretty girl doing a jeans ad and they can't help but freak out,' Vance said on a podcast recently. 'It reveals a lot more about them than it does us.' Right on! It was clear, at that point, that all reasonable Republicans should wear American Eagle jeans to prove their Americanness. That's why I went out and bought 20 pairs of them, confident that they would protect the bottom half of my body from wokeness. Trump praises 'Republican' Sweeney and says her jeans ad is 'HOTTEST' Then, on Aug. 4, the man himself, President Donald J. Trump, took to Truth Social to hail Sweeney as 'a registered Republican' who 'has the 'HOTTEST' ad out there.' His post concluded with: 'Being WOKE is for losers, being Republican is what you want to be.' BOOM! To celebrate, I put a second pair of American Eagle jeans on over the pair I was already wearing. Opinion: Trump is unpopular, polls show, and he's building an America most Americans hate Everything seemed perfect until I learned the truth about AEO. Turns out American Eagle is as woke as the rest of the lefties I saw that the company celebrated – gulp – Pride Month. I found the company's nefarious IDEA policy. I came across a 2022 AEO post that read: 'At AEO, we celebrate the diversity of one through the inclusion of many. Throughout the month of June, we will be celebrating associates who are members of the LGBTQIA+ community – highlighting their accomplishments, learning about their unique roles and hearing about their experience at AEO!' My two pairs of jeans almost fell off. When I saw an AEO brand talking about 'systemic racism,' my jeans fell off And then I found that back in 2020, the month after George Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, one of AEO's brands, Aerie, posted, 'We stand with the Black community,' writing that 'THE LIVES OF ALL BLACK PEOPLE MATTER' and that 'the more we understand systemic racism the more we can take action.' I referred to the MAGA-branded WOKE-to-English dictionary that I wrote and sell on Etsy, and sure enough, that's woke. Those monsters at American Eagle clearly recruited Sweeney, an innocent Republican, and used her to lure President Trump, Fox News and the entire MAGA movement into supporting a company that is, pardon my language, WOKE AF!! It's like we can't trust corporations to be honest about anything I guess I can take a little comfort knowing this also swings back at the handful of libs who got riled up about the Sweeney ad in the first place and condemned American Eagle as right-wing eugenicists. It's almost as if corporations insincerely play both sides of the fence, benefit from controversy of any sort and don't really have any strong beliefs outside of making money. Didn't see that coming. Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @ and on Facebook at
Yahoo
04-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Knox County School Board will discuss what happens if federal K-12 money gets frozen again
The Trump administration is releasing the $6 billion in education funding it froze June 30, but uncertainty remains for the Knox County Board of Education moving forward. School Board member Katherine Bike is leading an effort to ask the state to make sure that, if federal money gets frozen again, the state can offset the loss for its public schools. What the freeze meant for Knox County Schools: KCS stood to lose $3.8 million for Title II, III and IV grants, Superintendent Jon Rysewyk told Knox News, before the Trump administration released the nearly $6 billion it had frozen nationwide. The county made its budget assuming it would get the money July 1 (the start of the fiscal year). Damage to KCS was still done: After KCS found out June 30 the money was being frozen, it terminated 27.5 positions: 13.5 regional content facilitator positions in academic areas including math, English language arts, science and social studies 11 student support staffers 3 Welcome Center family liaisons What Bike wants the school board to ask the state: The resolution from Bike "respectfully urges the Tennessee General Assembly to take immediate action to ensure that any future loss, reduction or freeze of federal funding - particularly under IDEA and Titles I, II, III and IV - is fully offset by state funding." State lawmakers are talking about federal education dollars: Earlier this year, lawmakers created the Tennessee Joint Federal Education Deregulation Cooperation Task Force to explore how much the state relies on federal dollars for education. For the 2025-26 school year, the state reported to task force members July 29 it expects $106,353,503 in federal funding to be available. "I think it's important that we look at what could happen in Tennessee because the Department of Education from the federal level is somewhat in a state of flux," state Sen. Bill Powers of Clarksville said. Unanswered questions about how the state could step in: When state Sen. Dawn White of Murfreesboro asked budget analyst Alan Hampton if the state could replace lost funds for programs currently funded by the federal government, he didn't know. "I would have to get back to you on that," Hampton said. Attend the meetings: The school board will discuss the resolution at its meeting at 5 p.m. Aug. 4 in the boardroom of Summer Place, 500 W. Summit Hill Drive. The board will have its voting meeting at 5 p.m. Aug. 7 in the boardroom of Summer Place, 500 W. Summit Hill Drive. Study up: You can check out the proposal from Bike at Click "Board agendas/minutes." Want an update on plans for Knoxville parks? What's the plan? Knoxville is working on a master plan to guide prorities for its parks, sports facilities, programs and senior activities over the next 10+ years. The process kicked off in January. What's happening this week: Representatives from the firm making the plan will give an update on their findings from community engagement over the course of 2025. They'll also detail what's next. The final product: The city expects the final verion of the master plan to be ready "later this fall." When's the meeting? Council members will hear about the master plan at 5 p.m. Aug. 5 in room 461 of the City-County Building, 400 Main St. Council members will have their regular meeting at 6 p.m. in the main assembly room of the City-County Building, 400 Main St. Learn more about the master plan: You can find more infomration about the parks and recreation master plan at Study up on the rest of the agenda: You can find the agenda for the city council's meeting by clicking the "agendas" link on the city council's webpage at Choose the "HTML" option for Aug. 5. Knoxville's violence reduction leadership committee The violence reduction leadership committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 7 at the city's public works service center, 311 Morris Ave. The committee does not share agendas. Closing the loop I wrote about Knox County Commissioners considering an effort to raise the mineral service tax paid by companies that use the county's quarries from 15 cents per ton to 20 cents per ton. The effort passed July 28. The only commissioner to vote against it was Larsen Jay, who represents the whole county. "Minutes before (the vote), we had a report on housing and it outlined how materials costs in housing were continuing to rise and I didn't want to add to more expense to build a home," Jay said in the text. The county expects to make an extra $150,000-$160,000 a year for road work from the mineral service tax increase. 5 things you might have missed Here are some news highlights from last week: Hayden Dunbar highlighted how SNAP federal funding cuts could change free lunch at Knox County Schools I reported that Knox County Commission chair Gina Oster, a Republican, has a challenger from the right Joanna Hayes wrote about the Knoxville bar that was named one of USA TODAY's best of the year Keenan Thomas exclusively reported U.S. Rep. Fleischmann wants Tennessee to fill an empty TVA seat, and to lead in nuclear Devarrick Turner reported Great Smoky Mountains National Park is cracking down on speeding after fatal crashes Allie Feinberg is the politics reporter for Knox News. Email: Reddit: u/KnoxNewsAllie This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knox County Board of Education will discuss federal dollars Solve the daily Crossword
Los Angeles Times
02-08-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
Service Dog Rights: What the Law Actually Says (and What It Doesn't)
Service animals are amazing, right? They're MVPs that they help people with disabilities live life with confidence and independence. We're not talking about a handful of dogs, either. It's estimated by Share America that there are around 500,000 service dogs working in the U.S. Thanks to federal laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) these incredible dogs and their handlers are protected. It means they have the right to be in all sorts of public places, from stores and restaurants to public buildings and schools. Whether you're a business owner, a landlord or the owner of a service animal yourself, understanding these laws is crucial. It's the only way to avoid confusion, prevent awkward situations and make sure everyone gets treated fairly. So what's the difference between a service dog and a pet? The ADA is pretty specific about this. A service animal is a dog that is individually trained to perform specific, disability-related tasks. We're talking about things like guiding someone who is blind, retrieving dropped items or even interrupting an anxiety attack. The dog's job has to be directly linked to the person's disability, whether that's a physical or mental impairment. Dog breeds aren't restricted. You could have a tiny terrier or a great dane. The key is the training. Not the breed. Even a miniature horse might also qualify under certain conditions. But just providing comfort or companionship isn't enough. Emotional support animals or therapy animals don't count as service animals under the ADA unless they've been specifically trained to perform those key tasks. It's all about the job, not just the emotional support. A service dog can go pretty much anywhere the public is allowed. That includes restaurants, schools, and hotels. Businesses can't deny access because of a 'no pets' policy or because they have a breed restriction. In fact, there are only two questions they are legally allowed to ask you: Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? What tasks is the dog trained to perform? That's it. They can't ask for any paperwork, certification or proof. They also can't treat the handler differently unless the service dog is misbehaving (like being aggressive or not housebroken). In a professional setting, the ADA says employers must make a reasonable accommodation for a service animal. If it's a psychiatric service animal or an emotional support animal, an employer can ask for medical documentation that confirms the need for the animal. But they can't ask for any kind of official certification or registration for the animal itself. In housing, the Fair Housing Act has your back. Landlords have to accept assistance animals—including emotional support animals—even if their policy says 'no pets.' They can't charge you extra fees or deposits for the service dog and the animal is allowed in all areas used by tenants. When it comes to education, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the ADA ensure that service dogs can go to school with their person. Public schools and universities have to make reasonable modifications to accommodate them. For transportation, federal law is clear: service animals are allowed on public transit, in airports and on ride-share services. Under the Air Carrier Access Act, flying with a service animal is allowed without pet fees or advanced notice. Psychiatric service animals that are trained to perform tasks related to a mental disability also qualify. You can take your service animal's safe equipment with you and they are allowed in all areas of the airport, from check-in to security. Yes owning a service dog comes with costs. Just like owning a non-service dog there is food, training, and healthcare to worry about. But the financial commitment can be steep. A professionally trained service dog can cost a person between $10,000 and $20,000 on average, according to the US Service Animals. Because of the high demand and rigorous training there can even be a wait time of one to five years for a trained dog. That said, there are organizations that offer grants or tax deductions to help. Local disability groups are also a fantastic resource for everything from legal help to finding housing. You can file a complaint with the Department of Justice if you're ever denied access or treated unfairly. Also, you can reach out to local disability advocacy groups for legal assistance. This is a big one: the ADA does not require certification. Handlers can even train their own dogs. So all those online sites selling 'official' certificates or ID cards? They're not legally recognized by federal law. It's all about the dog's training and behavior, and its ability to perform tasks related to its handler's needs. No. The ADA doesn't require it. All those 'official' credentials you see online are not legally valid. Only if they are trained to perform specific tasks. Providing comfort alone is not enough to be considered a service animal under the ADA. Any breed can be a service animal as long as it has the required training. They can only ask if the dog is a service animal and what tasks it performs. They can't ask for documentation or ID. Not under the ADA but some state or local laws might provide access rights during training. Yes. Under the Fair Housing Act, they have to make reasonable accommodations for assistance animals. This is true even if they aren't trained to perform tasks.
