Jan. 16 (UPI) — Education and defense officials have combined efforts to launch programs that support military children with disabilities, the White House said Thursday.
“Together, these actions will address delays in services due to issues with transferring special education records from one school district to another, often across state lines,” a release from the White House said.
The release said some military families often wait up to half of the school year for their children with disabilities to receive the standard services they need at their new school because of a delay in records transfers.
“This loss of critical services is compounded with every move — which, for military children, will be an average of six to nine times throughout their K-12 education,” the release continued.
The program is called Joining Forces, initiated by first lady Jill Biden, and works to ensure that military children with disabilities are able to have their medical records sent from one school to another more quickly, for instance, when one or both of their parents are transferred to a military base in another town.
“I’ve heard from parents of military kids with disabilities who have shared how hard it is to transfer their child’s individualized education program when they move to new schools,” Biden said. “These new commitments are a critical first step in helping military children with disabilities, and all students who move frequently, get the specialized services they need when they move schools — without delay.”
Biden said she has visited more than 30 military bases where she has heard the recurring theme that the time it takes for records transfers of military children with disabilities is a problem.
State and local education agencies are working with management software companies on making the records easier to transfer, the release said.
Agencies have committed to making a pilot project of seamlessly transitioning data between two schools possible during the current school year, with the goal of making it available to all of the school districts that are part of the program.
The Department of Defense Education Activity is working with nonprofits as well as state and local agencies to carry out the program.
There are 64,000 military-connected children enrolled in DoDEA schools. It operates 161 schools in seven states, 11 foreign countries and two territories, according to the release.
