I began my 45-year career as a teacher in 1975, just after the law mandating that children with disabilities have equal access to education in public schools. A few years later, the Department of Education was established, and entrusted with special education programs. The values reflected in these two legislative acts have guided my career — to provide equal access for all children, regardless of individual traits, and to promote their achievements. Our entire nation benefits when we pursue and achieve these goals.
The steady dismantling and impoverishment of the Department of Education, and the current specific targeting of special education being undertaken by the Trump regime is fundamentally destructive to our country’s future as a democracy. Reducing funding for and equal access to appropriate education for all children deprives our nation of the contributions of millions of individuals, disproportionately low income or people of color. It would be particularly destructive to move the Special Education Department, and oversight of IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), which provides the legal infrastructure for special education, from the Department of Education, where there are experienced educators to effectively implement IDEA. Even more damaging and inappropriate, the proposal is to move special education to the Office of Health and Human Services, whose director, Robert Kennedy Jr., has shown himself to be no friend to individuals with disabilities.
Please contact our senators (https://www.warren.senate.gov/contact and https://www.markey.senate.gov/contact) and ask them to ensure that the Education Department stays in charge of the Office of Special Education and the implementation of IDEA. Congress must investigate these proposed, harmful changes and ensure that the administration follows special education laws.
Marta Lev
Florence