01.23.2019 | NY1 | The Department of Education acknowledges that there is, once again, a backlog of overdue payments for special education providers. In October, NY1 exposed how the office responsible for paying special education providers had amassed a staggering stockpile of unpaid invoices, many going back five, six, seven months. Therapists described defaulting on their mortgage, student loan and car payments as they waited to be paid for their work. Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Richard Carranza called the situation unacceptable and vowed to fix it. Three weeks later, the city said it was all caught up on 7,000 overdue payments. But now, the delays are back. Advocates for Children of New York says the volume of complaints increased significantly again this month. “These are payments which the Department of Education has been ordered to pay by an administrative hearing officer and they’re still not paying them,” said Rebecca Shore of Advocates for Children. Read article