Last Friday the Department of Education (DOE), by means of legally dubious reduction-in-force layoffs, decimated the offices within the Department of Education that administer federal special education funding, guidance, and monitoring through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). 

In an NPR report yesterday union representatives shared, “we believe that all remaining staff in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), including the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)… have been illegally fired." Although the Trump administration and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon have been explicit about their desire to completely dismantle the Department of Education, they have also repeatedly promised that funding for programs for disabled students would remain in place. 

What these shock layoffs do, in a pattern well-established by this administration’s actions since taking office, is destroy these programs without having to explicitly challenge the civil rights laws and protections that have been in place for decades. By eliminating nearly all of the staff who run these programs without any clear plan to shift the administration of IDEA funding elsewhere, they functionally and sneakily dismantle them by removing capacity for oversight or distribution of funds.

Over 827,000 of California’s approximately 6 million K-12 students are students with disabilities. That’s nearly 14% of all students in CA and equivalent to the entire population of San Francisco. The hollowing out of IDEA oversight and accountability place the supports and services these students crucially depend on in danger. These include: 

The direct federal grants that support children with disabilities’ right to be in public school classrooms through Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and other means, 

• Community-led groups, 
• Resources for parents, families, and school staff, 
• Research and education for teachers. 

This round of layoffs also removed nearly all remaining enforcement staff from the DOE’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), who enforce laws protecting students from discrimination and investigate claims, creating even more vulnerability for disabled students and compounding the potential crisis. Additionally, the domino effect of the gutting of these agencies may mean that special education programs that previously ran steadily would have to essentially lobby the California Department of Education for their funding in competition with other public goods, fighting anew for the civil rights protections and supports that have been enshrined in law for decades.

It is not lost on us that this dismantling comes on the 50th anniversary of the federal law protecting and enshrining special education protections and integration into American schools. This law came on the heels of the landmark Geraldo Rivera Willowbrook Exposé, alongside The Developmentally Disabled Assistance and Bill of Rights Act, in the same wave of federal policy change that formed the Protection and Advocacy system of which DRC is a part and which ushered in the modern Disability Rights movement.

Prior to this, many states had laws that explicitly excluded children with certain types of disabilities from attending public school. Children with disabilities were largely warehoused in state institutions, attended extremely sub-standard schools in segregated facilities, or were simply excluded and pushed out of public schools. What Brown v. Board of Education did for racial de-segregation, the IDEA did for students with disabilities, giving them the school support and legal protection to be educated alongside and to the same standard as their fellow American children. The DOE’s careless and destructive cuts this week to the OSERS and OCR constitute a major, concrete, and deeply troubling step backwards to much darker times for children with disabilities, and must be fought with all urgency.

DRC calls on Trump’s Department of Education to reinstate this critical staff and on the California Legislature to activate to protect the steady funding of special education programs.

If you’d like to contact your Congressional representatives directly, The Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates has created this helpful resource:

• Pressure Congress to Demand Reinstatement of this Critical Staff

Among DRC staff, these concerns are both professional and highly personal, some of our impacted staff share: 

“As someone who once depended on an IEP, and now as a parent of a child receiving early start intervention services, I am deeply alarmed by the Education Department's decision to fire critical staff who are in charge of administering federal funding for the IDEA. These offices are essential guardians of children's rights and accessible education.

Without robust federal enforcement, oversight, and technical assistance, IDEA and civil rights protections become hollow promises. This dismantling threatens to widen the gap between students who need support and the system that must deliver it. It undermines accountability, emboldens noncompliance, and shifts the burden onto families already stretched thin. 

I am proud to be an attorney at DRC because we will continue to fight to ensure every student with a disability receives the education and services they are entitled to under the law. Our work does not end when oversight is weakened--it becomes even more vital. 

Firing those who ensure access to justice in education is not cost-cutting--it is abdication. Our country cannot move forward on equity, inclusion, or civil rights if we undercut/disempower the very offices charged with defending them.”
-- Lauren-Ashley Mendez, Associate Managing Attorney of DRC's Youth Practice Group

“As both a special education advocate and a parent to a child with an IEP, I’ve had the opportunity to learn how to navigate the system and advocate fiercely for my child. I also know how complex and overwhelming this process can be. Families already have so many barriers and hurdles to overcome. I am deeply concerned about how these federal education cuts will undermine the ability of schools to provide proper supports and services for students and how much the already-existing inequities will deepen.”
--Nicole Turner, MSW, a social worker with DRC for the last 3 years, and previously a case manager for transition-aged youth at Inland Regional Center

Media Contact

Sam Mickens
Director of Communications
(646) 945-0918
Sam.Mickens@disabilityrightsca.org

Disability Rights California (DRC) – Is the agency designated under federal law to protect and advocate for the rights of Californians with disabilities. The mission of DRC is to defend, advance, and strengthen the rights and opportunities of people with disabilities.