Michael K. Yudin

Acting Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

Michael K. Yudin most recently served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE). In this role, he helped lead policy development and operations of all grant programs administered by OESE designed to promote academic excellence and ensure equitable opportunities for educationally disadvantaged students. Yudin also helped lead the Department’s efforts on Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility. He served as Acting Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education from June 2011 to May 2012.

Prior to joining the Department, Yudin spent nine years in the United States Senate, serving as legislative director for Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, senior counsel to Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, and HELP Committee counsel to Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont. In these roles, he assisted in developing, promoting, and advancing a comprehensive legislative agenda related to education, children and families, disabilities, and poverty. Working for senior Members of the HELP Committee, Yudin helped draft, negotiate, and pass various pieces of legislation, including the No Child Left Behind Act, and IDEA 2004. He also worked on the reauthorizations of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Head Start, the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 2006, and the Higher Education Act.

Before joining the Senate, Yudin served as an attorney at the Social Security Administration and at the U.S. Department of Labor for nearly ten years. In these positions, he provided legal advice on various policy initiatives, including social security, disability, employment, and welfare reform. He also served as director of employment policy for two leading national disability organizations: the ARC of the United States and United Cerebral Palsy (UCP).