Virtual Special Education Summit Draws in Nearly 1,500 Advocates
The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and its division, the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE), join forces each July to co-host the Special Education Legislative Summit (SELS). This year’s event kicked off Monday and will last through July 24—and is entirely virtual due to COVID-19. The change has led to a significant increase in the number of advocates, both veteran and new, participating in the summit, with nearly 1,500 advocates registered!
This year, the focus will be on four major topical areas: Fiscal Year 2021 appropriations; emergency COVID-19 funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); mental health; and strengthening the special educator pipeline.
After a series of online training, webinars, and master classes this week to familiarize participants with each issue area, next week will be spent conducting meetings with Congressional offices to carry forth a collective message around the policies that impact children and youth with exceptionalities.
As part of the event, we have prepared a Social Media Toolkit so you can support the issues important to our field. Help make our messaging go viral by posting to your social media accounts!
Action Alert
As part of SELS, action alerts have been generated around the four areas of focus on CEC’s Legislative Action Center. With just a few clicks, you can help send key messaging to your Members of Congress:
Using the collective voice of CEC’s 27,000 members, we can amplify our concerns and make sure they make their way to Capitol Hill.