Guidance on Athletics and Spec. Ed. Students Draws Sharply Split Response

Coach Len Boudreaux works with Sam Millikan, left, and Keitra Douglas at Gwinnett Heat wheelchair-basketball practice at the Monarch School in Duluth, Ga.

—David Walter Banks for Education Week

By Christina A. Samuels

A document from the U.S. Department of Education intended to clarify schools' responsibility to make sure students with disabilities have access to extracurricular sports has drawn sharply different opinions. Disability-rights advocates welcome the guidance, while critics say federal officials are pushing requirements that could place new financial burdens on districts.

The Education Department, for its part, now finds itself walking a line between stressing that schools must be aware of their legal obligations under decades-old law to open up all their programs to "reasonable modifications" and not stoking fears that it is overreaching its authority by creating new policy.

The 13-page document from the department's office for civil rights states that schools must make such modifications wherever possible for students with disabilities seeking to take part in extracurricular sports. In addition, the guidance says schools and districts should consider creating additional opportunities for students with disabilities if their current sports offerings cannot...