WASHINGTON >> Tucked away in the $2 trillion coronavirus stabilization bill is a provision that allows Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to seek congressional approval to waive parts of the federal special education law while schools combat the coronavirus pandemic.

How she might use that authority scares parents like Jennifer Gratzer, who lives in Seattle.

It took a 350-page complaint and hours of work for Gratzer to get the proper special education services for her 10-year-old son, a nonverbal third grader who has epilepsy and a condition called cortical visual impairment. He has made progress with services like occupational therapy, speech therapy and a one-on-one aid, afforded to special-needs students like him under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. But Gratzer fears that DeVos may relieve her son’s school district of such obligations for the foreseeable future.

“No one wants to do the hard thing unless they’re forced to do it,” Gratzer said, “and our kids have always been the hard thing.”

With the closure of schools across the country, parents like Gratzer have found themselves in an educational crisis like none seen since the disabilities law passed in 1975. Today, it grants nearly 7 million students individualized instruction and a vast array of educational support and services.

Schools are scrambling to shift classes online as more than 55 million children stay at home. For now, that has upended special education, which is administered through meticulously devised plans called Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, which require extensive services that are not easily transferred to the internet.

Students who qualify can have moderate to severe disabilities and require a range of support, such as tutoring and behavioral assistance, hands-on services like physical and occupational therapy, and specialized staff. Such services are critical for school districts to comply with IDEA’s mandate that students with special needs receive an education comparable to that of their peers.

The possibility that those obligations could be waived has driven a sharp wedge between school administrators, parents and special education teachers. Administrators and educators say without the waivers they would be forced to meet unrealistic expectations and face costly lawsuits. Avoiding those consequences could mean that districts decide not to offer any education at all to students in the next two months.

“While districts are working on solutions for kids with special needs, they shouldn’t wait to serve everyone else,” Michael J. Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative research organization, wrote on Twitter.

“The attitude that we need to have is: Let’s do everything we can, as fast as we can, for as many kids as we can,” he later said.

Lee Ann Wentzel, superintendent of the Ridley School District in Pennsylvania, said her staff had been reviewing thousands of records, connecting with hundreds families and finding creative ways to offer one-on-one services like speech therapy through platforms like Google Hangouts.

But, she conceded, “even with accessibility devices, there are some times when features will come up short for some children.”

“We have to acknowledge the fact that we’re not going to be 100% compliant, and not for not trying,” she continued. “But we decided to do what’s best for all kids.”

But parents and special education advocates fear the waivers could mark the beginning of the end of student disability rights.

Gratzer said she did not expect the same level of services that her son received in school. He could not see let alone follow what was happening on the screen during a recent meeting over Zoom, she said. But she said she hoped to take advantage of a benefit under the virus relief law that required schools to make up for lost time.

“It’s easy to do what they want and steamroll right over our kids,” Gratzer said. “My fear is that while parents like myself are trying to survive, people like Betsy DeVos will be out there pulling the rug from underneath us.”

The stimulus bill provision gave DeVos 30 days to submit recommendations for any waivers from the law she believes are necessary. Angela Morabito, an Education Department spokeswoman, said the department was reviewing the congressional request, “and will respond as appropriate.”

“Secretary DeVos has been clear from the beginning that she is committed to ensuring all students, including students with disabilities, can continue their educations during this national emergency,” Morabito said.

Civil rights organizations say DeVos does not need to waive provisions to meet that commitment, and doing so could have unintended consequences.

“You’re taking a temporary disadvantage and making it permanent because it will be hard to recoup that learning loss,” said Miriam A. Rollin, director of the Education Civil Rights Alliance at the National Center for Youth Law. “It really is opening a whole Pandora’s box.”

In a letter, the National Urban League, The Education Trust and other groups said waiver authority for IDEA was “unnecessary.”

The AASA, The School Superintendents Association, disagreed, saying the right to request a waiver from special education mandates was vital when a shutdown district was struggling to meet the basic educational needs of its students.

The organization has asked the Education Department to consider waivers from timelines for evaluating students and for relief from stringent rules for adjusting a student’s individualized education plans.

It also asked for flexibility from rules that govern how schools must respond to due process complaints that parents and lawyers file against districts for failing to provide services. The organization reported that lawyers had already filed complaints in at least four states.

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