The current federal administration has moved forward on a plan to transfer responsibility for many special education programs out of the U.S. Department of Education to the Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, the agency’s Office of Civil Rights or OCR, which addresses disability discrimination in schools will be transferred to the Department of Justice, officials have reported. Disability Scoop, LLC, an online newsletter, reported that “Over a year ago President Donald Trump announced that he would move “special needs” programs to Health and Human Services as part of a commitment to close the Education Department.”
After over 50 plus years as a special educator, special education administrator and as the Executive Director of the Vermont Council of Special Education Administrators, now retired, I am heartbroken by this proposal.
At the center of the work of federal, state and local education has been the view that children with disabilities are learners like all other students. The education of those with disabilities has moved forward in remarkable and unprecedented ways in the 50 years since the Education of Handicapped Children Act of 1975 became law under President Ford. Before that literally millions of children with disabilities were excluded from public education. Now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) this act, overseen by the federal Department of Education, has resulted in unprecedented gains for students with disabilities due to DOE’s role in educator preparation, national research and legal oversight.
IDEA is an education law not a health care law, and the Office of Civil Rights is key to enforcing IDEA and other education laws in a knowledgeable way. Both should remain in the Department of Education, unified under the leadership of skilled and experienced education personnel. Neither the Justice Department nor the Department of Health and Human Services are purposed and structured to ensure all students’ education rights. Fragmentation and increased bureaucracy are the likely result.
IDEA promotes meaningful integration of students with disabilities with other students. So much had been learned about instruction for all from students with disabilities. So much about building a school community that welcomes and learns from all has been the result. The Department of Education represents a cornerstone of democracy. The DOE’s oversight, research, professional training, and vitally, the participation of parents and guardians in the development of the program for a child with disabilities are in grave danger of being weakened and fragmented by the current initiative to carve up the DOE’s critical federal role. This is a threat to the comprehensive education of all students.
Please contact your state and federal legislators resist the dismantling of the DOE and to promote the Department of Education as a unified entity focused on the education of all children.
Unruh is a retired special educator and special education administrator and is former executive director of The Vermont Council of Special Education Administrators.