20 companies that provide special education services to private school students are being blocked by the New York City Department of Education amid concerns of industry fraud.
The New York Times (nyti.ms/3xb6qTb) on Thursday, reported that recent emails sent by the DOE instructed its employees to avoid hiring employees of the 20 companies when providing services to private school students with disabilities.
That change will have the city fighting requests for payment from private school parents whose children were approved by the DOE for services through the 20 companies that were singled out.
Those 20 companies, which primarily serve yeshiva students, provided $60 million in special education services last year alone.
While officials have said that all 20 firms have ties to an individual arrested last month in connection with special education funding, some have disputed that claim, including Special Edge, a large Borough Park company that received nearly $30 million in funding last year from the DOE, most of which was for private school students.
A statement released by Special Edge and EvalCare, an education company, accused the DOE of acting unfairly, saying that the agency’s “refusal to engage in conversation with us and restore Special Edge and EvalCare Inc. as providers in good standing is only harming deserving students who need special education services.”
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