The Indiana Senate voted 0-50 this week to kill a piece of legislation that would have changed the way special education disputes between families and schools are resolved.

A WFYI investigation found that schools often pressure parents into signing nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, as a condition of a special education settlement. Advocates say NDAs prevent parents from talking to other parents of children with disabilities about their experience. And it leaves parents in fear that a school district may take legal action against them for a perceived violation of the clause.

Legislation that would change the way disputes between schools and families over special education services are resolved is gaining support from Indiana lawmakers.

Indiana will spend $2 million to help fully license special education teachers by offering scholarships for required training and streamlining required coursework.

The WFYI Education Desk is committed to special education coverage. As part of our reporting, we want to highlight and explain common challenges families face as they navigate the special education system in Indiana. Here's a digital map that follows the often complicated and confusing process that three Indiana families of students with disabilities went through.

As schools scrambled to deliver special education services in an online format during the early months of the pandemic, students with disabilities faced unique challenges. But many special education students lost more than classroom time and educational services; they also lost social opportunities.

Indiana is scrambling to correct a longstanding violation of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and it plans to stop issuing emergency permits for special education teachers in less than nine months.

Indiana lawmakers worry the state’s rush to end emergency permits for special education teachers will leave schools with unfilled positions to help students with disabilities.

Indiana issued thousands of emergency special education teaching permits in violation of federal law over the last four years. But the fix could make the teacher shortage worse.

The federal government recently dismissed an investigation into the Indiana Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights earlier this year opened an investigation citing “disturbing reports” from parents of students with disabilities who said their children were forced into “one size fits all” remote learning programs.