What Department of Education Cuts Mean For Special Education

0:07President Trump has targeted the Department of Education with layoffs since the start of his second term. But the administration's latest cuts during the government shutdown attempted to wipe out the Department's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services. That's the office that, among other things, administers the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. It supports millions of children with disabilities around the country. Friday's cuts not only gutted the staff of that office, it slashed the offices for civil rights in elementary and secondary education. The Department of Education was just one of the agencies to receive RIFs or reduction in force notices last week.

0:49Employees were told their jobs would be over on December 9th. But then a federal judge put a halt to the shutdown layoffs by the administration, siding with federal worker unions who said the RIFs weren't handled properly. So now the future of special education programming remains up in the air, with teachers, parents, and advocates planning for the worst. I'm Jen White. You're listening to the 1A Podcast. We get into what all this could mean for the future of special education in the U.S. right after this.

1:22Let's start the conversation with this voicemail we got from teacher Belva Collins. I have spent 30 years as a special education teacher and a professor training special education teachers. and the devastation caused by the closure of the Office of Special Education Programs is going to ruin special education. States are not ready to take over this obligation and this is just a terrible time since it's the anniversary of 50 years of special education. I began my career in 1974 when we had the law and now the law is being completely disregarded and a lot of people are going to lose their services that we've worked so hard to build over so many years.

2:06Belva, thanks for that message. And we'll get into the history of the IDEA a little later, but first we have three guests around the table to talk about all of it. We're here with Chad Rummel, Executive Director of the Council for Exceptional Children. That's the largest international professional organization dedicated to supporting the education of children with disabilities. Chad, welcome to the program. Thanks for having me. Also with us, Becca Wallenwinder. She's a former director of policy and planning in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the Education Department.

2:36She was laid off in March. Becca, welcome. It's nice to be here. Thank you. And Laura Meckler is with us, national education writer for The Washington Post. Laura, welcome back. Nice to be here. Laura, I want to start with what happened on Friday. Give us more details about who was cut from the Department of Education and why. Well, both of those are a little murky, to be quite honest. We do know that there were 466 people who received layoff notices over the weekend starting on Friday. And they were really across the agency, especially in K-12 programs, a few higher ed as well. The Federal Student Aid Program, which runs the student loan program, was not affected in this round.

3:18But all of the major K-12 programs and the Office for Civil Rights, which enforces the laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, sex, or disability in all schools that receive federal funding. So there were just widespread notices that people were losing their jobs. Now, this is, of course, on top of a round of layoffs that happened in March, which reduced that, combined with incentives to leave, reduced the department by about half, from about 4 ,000 workers to about 2 ,000 workers. And now we have another 466 being told that they are no longer going to have a job come December.

3:55So that's sort of what happened. We don't have a precise breakdown of exactly what offices they're from, but we do know it's widespread. God. The why? The why, you know, the White House says this is in response to the shutdown. It's not exactly clear how those two relate, because during a shutdown, nobody is, except for central workers, are working. Nobody is getting paid. People are furloughed. So you don't really need to lay them off in response to a shutdown. President Trump has said that he suggested this would be essentially a punishment to Democrats, that he was going to get rid of the Democrat programs and things that they like, sort of to, I presumably, force them back to the table or to make concessions.

4:37I'm not sure that makes a whole lot of sense either, but that's what he said. Becca, you worked in the education department for decades, and you were most recently directing policy and planning in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, or OSERS. Give us a quick review of the office's primary functions. Sure. So OSERS administers programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as you said, but also programs for adults with disabilities under the vocational rehabilitation. There are also programs for blind individuals who operate the vending facilities on highway systems.

5:13And then we have special institutions where money goes directly to those institutions that serve blind students and deaf-blind students and then deaf students. So roughly how many people are we talking about here? How many people are we talking about serving or how many people worked? Well, we're talking in IDEA there are about 8.5 million and then another couple million adults. So it is a lot of people and a lot of money. The total appropriation to OSERS was about$20.6 billion, most of that going to IDEA. And very few people administering the program, actually. Chad, when we talk about special education and children with disabilities, what and who falls under those descriptions?

6:08Any child with a disability from birth through grade 12, age 21, who has a disability is entitled to special education services under the law. And that's all disabilities from autism to dyslexia to Down syndrome. It covers a spectrum of individuals who are covered under that. And the law is set there to help and support them, to help and support the teachers that are delivering these services, and to provide a safety net for the parents of those 8.5 million children or 15 % of the school population. When we talk about staff cuts, that can feel abstract, I think, for some people. So connect the dots for us.

6:43What are some concrete examples of how losing this staff might affect a child or family relying on this programming? Sure. So one of the things that the Office of Special Education Programs does is provide discretionary grants to support things like parent information centers. Those centers right now are up and running until the next round of grants is due and the next round of funding comes out. Who's going to pull that lever to give that funding? Who's going to oversee and support those parent centers? The same is true for technical assistance to our states and our districts who are trying to implement IDA.

7:14There's no one right there now to answer questions. And what's scary about that is across the country, our state directors of special education, there are 18 brand new state directors of special education this year who need to turn to OSEP for assistance in implementing this federal law. And there's no one there to answer the phone. We believe there could be under 10 people, as few as five people in that department, but no one really knows. And in fact, the people that are leading these departments don't know who's working for them still. So there's literally chaos and nothing getting done. Granted, there's a shutdown, but we're being told even after the shutdown, there's nothing that can be done.

7:46So who's going to pull in a worst-case scenario? There's no one to pull the lever to deliver next year's IDEA money. There's no one to track and see how much should be going to states in terms of that IDEA money. So we got money this year because it's advance-funded, but this could be our last set of funding unless we fix this layoff situation. Becca, what are you hearing from your contacts still in that world about how they're feeling in this moment? So what's really interesting is we're focused on the money, but IDEA isn't about money. It's about access. The law requires the government at some point to maybe fund up to 40 percent of the excess cost of educating children with disabilities.

8:28But even if no money was ever appropriated again by Congress, states would still be responsible for implementing IDEA and providing a free appropriate public education to children with disabilities. And so what I'm hearing from my friends who are still there and truly my family for the past almost 20 years is that they don't see it as the money. They see it as the partnership between states, between districts, and most importantly, the partnership with parents of children with disabilities and the children themselves. And the inability to do that real work is the issue I think that we need to focus on.

9:06We're hearing from you. Lisa writes, I live in rural Ohio. Our schools are small in number and our citizens are low to middle class at best. This means that our schools do not get significant funding from taxes. Special education in small town, low income schools like mine is already very limited and the teachers are overstretched. I cannot imagine how much worse it's going to get after this and how many students and families are going to suffer. More from you and our guests after this short break.

9:37Back now to our conversation on special education and the IDEA. Chad, take us back to the start of the IDEA. This is a federal law. It turns 50 next month. What is its purpose, and how did it become a law? That's a great question, and it's been years and years of advocacy on behalf of organizations like CEC to make it happen. If we go back to 1974, before the law was enacted, there were states that were doing good things for kids with disabilities, But there were many states and many places in the country that didn't allow kids in schools with disabilities. Or they were sent to school but locked in classrooms and not actually taught anything or sent to institutions.

10:13I encourage everyone to Google Willowbrook Institute and see the stories of what was happening to kids with disabilities in 1972. And advocates, teachers, parents, families got together, fought for the law, and was passed in 1975. And it completely revolutionized education. I've heard from teachers that were teaching at that time that got to drive around their city and county and go to parents' homes and say, for the first time, your kid can come to school. It gave these kids a chance to thrive. It gave these families a chance to thrive and be proud of who their children were and were going to be.

10:45And it really led us to integrate kids with disabilities into the schools, which is what the law calls for. So to clarify, the IDEA was met to ensure that individual states and schools follow the law. But I want us to look at this by the numbers. When we talk about the number of children in the U.S. who actually benefit from special education programming in public schools, we're talking about roughly 10 million children? 8.5 million. 8.5 million children. And so in the absence of federal oversight, how would you expect local school districts to respond? Well, special education teachers are trained in the ideas of IDEA.

11:28We believe in educating these children. That's why they're in this profession. And let me just say that these special education teachers are going to continue to do the hard work and the heart work for these kids, whether there's implementation of this law or not. Our concern is when they need support and resources, are they going to be there? Right now, there are about 500 grants that are distributed by the Office of Special Education Programs that support teachers, that support states, support families, and those resources that come from those grants are going to be ripped out of the hands of teachers if we don't continue to support them.

11:59That's not what we need. This country is facing a major issue, and that's educator shortage, and it hits hardest in special education. If we make these teachers' jobs harder by taking away resources and support, we're going to drive further chaos into the industry, and that's not going to help children, parents, or families at all. We got this email from Jay who says, My wife is a pediatric occupational therapist in the public school system in the state of Oklahoma. Her consistent complaint and concern is that they are understaffed. My wife has in the range of 25 students on her caseload who require assessment, documentation, hands-on assistance, parental communication, etc.

12:34She occasionally has to cancel a visit with one child because she has a meeting to address another, and the caseload continues. I want to better understand what we're talking about, Becca, because when people hear the term special education, they may assume it's just about what's happening inside a classroom. But what other services are provided? Sure. So IDEA allows for specialized instruction. So the teachers that Chad was talking about that work with students in classrooms, whether those classrooms be fully integrated with their general education peers or where they receive services away from their general education peers because a team has determined that's the least restrictive environment.

13:15But special education also includes related services. And these are things like physical therapy, occupational therapy, counseling for students with mental health conditions. If a child has a disability that impacts their education, so we're looking at within the four walls of the schoolhouse, then they are entitled to services under IDEA, and those services are broad. We got this email from Patty who says, I joined the Office of Special Education Programs at OSEP staff in 1983 and had the honor and privilege of working there for 30 years. The last 20 years, I served as deputy director. I wasn't surprised to hear that President Trump had fired a large number of employees from the Department of Education, which he has promised to shut down.

13:59But his statement that, quote, we are closing up Democrat programs that we disagree with and they're never going to open up again, gave me hope that OSEP would be safe because special education has received strong bipartisan support in Congress since the law was first passed in 1975. Laura, have the politics around this change? I mean, when we talk about access to special education programs, has that ever been treated as a partisan issue? I do think it is. There has been a lot of bipartisan support for this issue. And you actually have heard it from Secretary McMahon herself in her confirmation hearings.

14:34She was very clear about supporting IDEA and not wanting to cut that funding in the budget proposal, in the Trump budget proposal. They did not ask Congress to cut funding for this program. So you have seen bipartisan support for it. But I think that at the same time, that kind of runs headlong into the fact that we do not really have a Congress right now that challenges the White House on almost anything. So this included. So I don't think that this is going to be the thing that's going to, you know, pull congressional Republicans, you know, onto the streets of anger with the president. Even though they have to go back to their districts and explain to the parents who they represent about what happened?

15:18Well, I think what you would hear from them if there was a conservative on this panel, I think what they would say and what they've told me is that, you know, this isn't about cutting off support for families or for kids. This is about bureaucracy, that we're talking about these people in Washington, what their jobs are is essentially monitoring and compliance. And that essentially is red tape, essentially writing reports. Are you doing this? Have you checked that box? and that that may or may not be necessary, that maybe there's more than we need. And maybe the states can do that work. Now, I know other people would disagree with that, but that would be the argument.

15:50And I do think it's important that when we talk about this to not conflate these issues because they are different between whether that money goes out to support them is different from how do we enforce the compliance with the law. But as someone said earlier, regardless of whether there's anyone in D.C. looking over their shoulders, the law still is there. I mean, the law is on the books, which requires districts to offer a free and appropriate education to students with disabilities. And they are still required to do that, whether they have federal funding, whether they have federal monitoring or not.

16:26The question is just how do we sort of make sure that happens? Where is the enforcement mechanism? Becca, I'd love to hear from you as someone who was inside this world for so long. Sure. So the first thing I want to say is that disability doesn't have a team. It doesn't fly a flag. It doesn't care if you're poor. It doesn't care if you're rich or if you live in a red state or a blue state. As the IDEA so eloquently says, disability is a naturally occurring part of the human condition. And to those people who are referring to bureaucratic bloat, I would encourage them, particularly if they are politicians, to actually read the law because the law specifically requires an Office of Special Education Programs located in the U.S.

17:09Department of Education to monitor the implementation of IDEA in the states. And we should note here that while President Trump has said he wants to close the Department of Education, that requires congressional approval. I mean, he's also said that he wants to move all the special education services to the Department of Health and Human Services. Not so much really necessarily making the argument that they would do a better job, but because they want to close the education department altogether. And part of me wonders whether reducing the staff so drastically is part of a long game toward making it easier to try to move those services to HHS.

17:45And potentially a back round of block granting. Explain that. So money exists in different ways in the federal space. There is money that just goes to the state, and they can spend it however they want to spend it, as long as it's consistent with the law. But nobody's pulling, nobody's making sure. IDEA has very specific ways that it must be spent, and therefore it can't be part of a block or a larger pot. And so if this program moves under HHS, your concern is that this money would be folded into these block grants where there's less oversight? And that it will go to a place where people don't have experience with education.

18:23They are working on medical issues. Disability, as it exists under IDEA, is not a medical issue. It's an education issue. And we need to keep the focus on providing access to children to make effective progress in schools. Here's another message we got from one of you. Hi, this is Adam from Elk Grove, California. I am the father of a 10-year-old boy on the autism spectrum who has had an IEP since the age of three and depends on that IEP to succeed in a general education classroom. So I am absolutely appalled by the Trump administration. Thanks for that call. And here's another message we got from a member of the tax club.

19:06I'm the parent of a legally disabled child. My child has learning disabilities because of her health condition. One primary one is dyslexia. I've been fighting for her to receive structured literacy for seven years. We finally moved to a bigger school district, losing$100 ,000 on our home in the process. She is in 10th grade reading at 4th grade level, finally receiving structured literacy through this bigger school district. I have filed a systemic failure complaint against the Minnesota Department of Education for not ensuring my child received her proper IEP and education through the U.S. Department of Education.

19:39I'm concerned that our case will no longer be investigated. So two parents there talking about concerns over special education and IEPs. Becca, what role does ulcers play in getting help to children like this? Well, in terms of investigating complaints, that function lies with the state. The law is very clear that the individual oversight of a child-specific complaint, A parent can file a complaint with the state, and then the state investigates that and issues a finding. I believe what the mother was talking about is she filed a complaint through the Office for Civil Rights, alleging a larger systemic issue against the State Department of Education.

20:22And again, alongside these layoff notices to special education staffing, the Office of Civil Rights within the Department of Education was also slashed. Laura, what does that part of the department do, and how does it relate to what we're talking about here? Well, I think it relates directly to what we're talking about here. The Office for Civil Rights was already, even before this administration, had massive backlogs of cases. What they do is they investigate individual complaints. The office itself can also launch its own investigations, and that is for violations of civil rights law. It's against the law if you accept federal money, if you're a school and you accept federal money, which is almost all of the schools and colleges, you cannot discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, sex, or disability.

21:08And if you are somebody who believes that that has happened, that you have been discriminated, your child has been discriminated against based on one of those factors. For instance, we've seen this at anti-Semitism. It's the same thing. That's discrimination on the basis of national origin. We've seen this in terms of sexual assault and discrimination on the basis of sex. We've seen this play out, obviously, all sorts of racial discrimination argued both ways. These are the kinds of complaints that the Office for Civil Rights handles. But they basically don't handle them right now because this office has been absolutely gutted.

21:40There were 12 regional offices at the beginning of the year. They closed seven of them. That left five. We're told that there have been significant cuts at at least three of the five that are remaining. As far as we know, they're still open. But we don't know and we don't know the exact extent of the cutting. But if you think about that in terms of capacity, there was about a backlog of about 20 ,000 cases. So each one of those is a parent who's complained about something or somebody who's complained about a service not being provided. 20 ,000 backlog in January. Secretary McMahon told Congress in June that the backlog had grown to 25 ,000.

22:18So that's a very rapid acceleration in the backlog. And now, I mean, I'm not sure they're even really trying because there are just so few that I'm told, I've talked to a lot of attorneys who work for the Office for Civil Rights who've told me that they spend their time just triaging, dismissing the cases that they can, trying to log them. There's, you know, and then there are some high profile investigations such as schools that allow transgender students access to bathrooms. They are, those investigations are continuing, but all sorts of other things. You know, there are some disability investigations that happen, but there's also a lot sitting.

22:53Chad, I'd love to hear from you on that as well. What are you hearing from families who have concerns about whether or not their children's IEPs are being followed or other civil rights complaints? We're hearing frustration for the most part. And like Becca said, a lot of this goes through the State Department. But 25 ,000 complaints to OCR and over 50 % of those are special education specific. So that's a lot of parents who are frustrated, upset, concerned, and can't afford an attorney necessarily to file a lawsuit. We heard from Nancy who says, my daughter with Down syndrome received special ed services from birth to grade 12.

23:27She is now a college student pursuing a degree and looks forward to gainful employment. She would not be where she is without special education services. Still to come, how do schools, states, and parents respond to threats to special education funding? We'll get to that after the break.

23:47We got this email from Angela who says, I am a parent of two children in special education programs in Nebraska. It's very difficult as a parent having a child with a disability because you were forced to learn about special education, regulations, and rules to try and get services that you think your child needs. And districts will sometimes fight you on that. Sometimes they fight you a lot. Sometimes they don't. So I found it to be a bit of needing to compromise between parents and districts and teachers. I am deeply concerned for families like mine that did not have the education that I do and they do not understand special education the way that I do, that are going to suffer as a result of layoffs if they go through.

24:26Go ahead, Becky. And you had a child who accessed special education resources. Absolutely, yes. I have 12-year-old twins, a little plug for my tweens. And one received services up until she was in fourth grade and started receiving services at age four months. So a long time. I want to focus on something that Chad said before. What this parent is talking about is specifically the reason that the parent training and information centers exist. We know that those that remain have funding through FY26, but we do know, too, that certain parent centers have been eliminated because it was determined that their purpose was not consistent with this administration's priorities.