Leading Education Access for Reentry and Necessary Success (LEARNS) Amendment Act of 2025
The LEARNS Amendment Act of 2026 is a broad District of Columbia omnibus bill that makes changes across corrections, education, probate, volunteer authority, criminal justice reporting, and school safety laws. Its central policy change requires the Department of Corrections (DOC) to serve as the agency responsible for providing a free appropriate public education to certain incarcerated adults with disabilities, including evaluating eligible individuals who were not previously identified for special education and contracting with an education provider capable of delivering in-person instruction, high school diploma programming, and individualized education program services.
The bill also requires DOC to create an online grievance and service-request portal with a public-facing, view-only tracking interface, unique ticket numbers, and searchable status information, while protecting personally identifiable information. In addition, it repeals two DCMR provisions, narrows certain victim-related language in Title 14 to victims under 18, revises probate procedures in Title 20, clarifies the applicability date of the 2024 probate amendment, confirms the Attorney General’s authority to regulate volunteer use, adjusts reporting and deadlines for the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and Prearrest Diversion Task Force, and repeals a section of the Safe Passage Training and School Engagement Amendment Act of 2025.
The bill would amend multiple provisions of the D.C. Official Code and related regulations, with the most significant operational effect falling on the Department of Corrections and the District’s special education system. It expands DOC’s statutory responsibilities for incarcerated individuals with disabilities, creates new administrative obligations for education delivery and grievance tracking, and changes probate notice and procedure rules by revising Title 20 and related publication requirements. It also updates criminal justice coordination deadlines and reporting, clarifies age-specific victim protections in sexual assault-related provisions, and removes a prior school safety training provision, thereby affecting agencies including DOC, the Register of Wills, the Attorney General, the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, and education-related entities.
The available voting history suggests strong support: the bill passed first reading in committee/council action by a 12-0 vote. No committee transcript excerpts were provided, so there is no recorded debate to indicate formal opposition or amendments in discussion. Overall, the bill appears to have been received as a package of administrative, procedural, and reentry-focused reforms with broad consensus.
The most likely points of contention are the bill’s expansion of DOC’s obligations to provide special education services to incarcerated adults, the creation of a public grievance-tracking portal, and the repeal or delay of provisions tied to school safety and criminal justice implementation timelines. These changes could raise concerns about cost, staffing, privacy, and agency capacity, particularly for DOC and the agencies affected by the revised deadlines. The probate and victim-language changes are more technical, but they still alter existing legal procedures and could draw scrutiny from practitioners if they affect notice, standing, or implementation timing.