GCDD’s Education Advocacy Day Highlights Key Priorities for Students with Disabilities

The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) works to support inclusive education, employment, housing, and advocacy for Georgians with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). On February 4, 2026, self-advocates, parents, educators, and other community members met with lawmakers during GCDD’s Education Advocacy Day to share their experiences with inclusive education in Georgia. Advocates focused on three main priorities: modernizing Quality Basic Education (QBE) in K-12 schools, making Inclusive Post-secondary Education (IPSE) grants permanent, and ending the Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support (GNETS).

Modernizing Quality Basic Education (QBE)

“The process for funding Georgia’s public-school classrooms has not changed since the mid-1980s,” said D’Arcy Robb, executive director of GCDD. “The state’s QBE formula was created before the internet, before the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was fully realized, and before inclusion of students with I/DD became an expectation.”

Robb and others say the current funding system does not reflect how much education has changed. Today, teachers have more technology, tools, and resources than they did decades ago. They are better prepared to teach classrooms in a blended learning environment that includes students with and without I/DD. They now use inclusive teaching tools, using team teaching, different ways of presenting lessons, and extra layers of support. However, school funding has not been updated to match these improvements.

“There is a persistent misconception that special education and inclusive classrooms benefit only the students they formally serve,” said Robb. “In reality, many of the instructional approaches now considered essential to high-quality general education were developed and refined through work with students with I/DD.”

Right now, QBE gives schools funding based on broad categories of student needs. But the system is 40 years old and does not reflect today’s standards, including inclusive education. Because of this, students with more complex needs often do not receive enough funding for the support they need.

“Countless devoted educators across our state spend considerable time finding ways around an outdated system,” explained Robb. “But when systems depend on workarounds, students with intellectual and developmental disabilities are often the first to face the consequences through inconsistent and inadequate supports, staffing trade-offs, and unequal access to instruction.”

Making Inclusive Post-Secondary Education (IPSE) Grants Permanent

Early support in K-12 schools is critical for students with disabilities. When students get the help they need early on, they are more likely to succeed in school and move on to IPSE programs at colleges across Georgia. These programs help students build self-advocacy skills and live more independently as adults. Without strong support in K–12, these college opportunities would not be possible.

That is why, along with its K–12 advocacy, the GCDD and disability advocates want to make IPSE grants permanent. Students in IPSE programs cannot use HOPE or Zell Miller scholarships, so the Georgia Legislature created state-funded scholarships for students with I/DD through Senate Bill 246. These grants are part of a five-year pilot program that helps students pay tuition at approved public colleges and are set to end in 2028 unless lawmakers take action. GCDD supports the expansion of IPSE grants to allow students to attend IPSE programs at approved private colleges, as well.

Ending the Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support (GNETS)

Finally, GCDD is working to end GNETS, a state-run program providing specialized education and therapeutic services to students with I/DD. While the program was created to help students, several speakers at Education Advocacy Day shared concerns and difficult experiences with how it is working in practice. According to Amanda Morris, mother of Gabriel Morris, a 9-year-old GNETS participant:

“Over the four years Gabriel has been enrolled in GNETS, he has experienced constant turnover of teachers and paraprofessionals,” she said. “Many of the teachers were not certified in special education, and he has had over six paraprofessionals during this time. Gabriel’s individualized education program (IEP) requires him to have a one-on-one aide, but after all the aides left, the GNETS program took the one-on-one aid out of his IEP without my consent. His IEP goals were not being met, but instead of trying to improve them, the GNETS program took important goals out of my child’s IEP.”

In addition to concerns about a lack of support, critics say the program separates students with disabilities from their peers in ways that are not fair. In 2016, the federal government filed a civil action raising concerns that GNETS isolates students with disabilities in separate settings that are unequal and not the best environment for learning.

Because of the work of disability advocates across Georgia, there is hope for meaningful change in how the state supports students with disabilities. When advocates share their personal experiences, they help lawmakers understand what needs to improve and push for changes that will benefit future generations of Georgians with disabilities.

For more information, watch a press conference held by Sen. Billy Hickman (R–Statesboro) and GCDD on Education Advocacy Day. Listen to what families and advocates have to say: