The U.S. Department of Education has released new guidance to states and local agencies about how they should handle special education services in online schools.

The document, released Thursday, is intended to help educators meet their obligation to find students who need extra services and ensure they get them. That can be difficult online, where there may be less face-to-face interaction than in a traditional classroom, the guidance says.

It adds that there is confusion in some places about who is responsible to ensure the students get what they need in online schools.

Read recent articles about Georgia's virtual schools here and here.

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HBCUs nationally will get $438 million, according to the UNCF, previously known as the United Negro College Fund. Georgia has 10 historically Black colleges and universities. (Daniel Varnado for the AJC)

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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