Trump Guts Special Ed in Dept of Ed

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Families and educators across the country were plunged into a state of uncertainty over the weekend after the federal Education Department laid off practically every staffer in the government's special education division. Nearly the entire Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, including the Office of Special Education Programs, was let go, according to agency workers and their union. Employees in the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, many of whom work to protect students with disabilities from discrimination, were also laid off, the union said.

Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 05:52 AM | 2 COMMENTS | permalink

To be clear, no federal civil rights laws have changed. Students with disabilities are still legally entitled to a "free appropriate public education," a standard created by the half-century-old landmark law known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. Through that law, Congress remains required to pick up the tab for a portion of the average per-pupil cost of special education (spending billions of dollars each year).

The difference after the recent firings is that the people and systems in charge of doing those things have been upended.

Comments

The federal component is absolutely critical to special ed in the US.
And those programs are essential for the students.
But that's your standard Republican approach:
Punch down, gloat, revel in the pain of others, and look to money lords for more moolah.
Control all branches of government and blame it one others.
But what about those kids?

#1 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-10-14 05:59 AM