As the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act marks its 50th year, Kansas City families worry that federal efforts to dismantle the Education Department will further erode their students’ rights.
The landmark law requires that children with disabilities have access to a “free appropriate public education,” and provides funding to help states offer special education services. Before IDEA, schools regularly denied access and services to children with disabilities.
Sarah Laub, a Blue Springs parent, has a high schooler with several learning disabilities and a 504 plan, which allows students to receive accommodations in the classroom.
Laub said she has a clear picture of what her child’s educational experience under IDEA looks like compared to her parents’ and her own.
“We could still improve it, but it makes a world of difference. He gets to show up at school. He gets to fully belong,” Laub said. “His needs get met, and we don't have to battle so much for it.”
Under IDEA, the federal government commits to paying 40% of the cost of special education in public schools — but the closest it’s come to that promise was just half of that. As a result, schools are serving a wide range of special education needs with limited money and staff.
And changes to education at the federal level are causing concern among families, who worry that IDEA enforcement will be weakened as other services are gutted.
IDEA's anniversary comes amid federal education changes
Federal workers who oversee special education were reinstated after being fired during the government shutdown, but it's unclear how long they’ll be able to keep their jobs beyond Jan. 30, when the spending deal reached by Congress ends.
Dozens of staffers in the Office for Civil Rights were also reinstated after being fired in October. The Trump administration already shuttered several offices responsible for investigating discrimination in schools earlier this year.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said earlier this year that IDEA funding would not be targeted for cuts, but she proposed moving special education oversight to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Next year’s budget plans would keep IDEA funding the same, but consolidate some programs and grants to give states more flexibility. In November, McMahon said in a USA Today op-ed that returning oversight to the states wouldn’t end federal education support for education.
“Funding for low-income students and students with disabilities predates the Education Department and will continue indefinitely,” McMahon said in the op-ed. “Protecting students’ civil rights is work that will never go away.”
Miriam Galan has two kids with special needs in Kansas City Public Schools. She also runs Azul Esperanza, a nonprofit that helps support Latino families who have children with special needs and autism.
Galan said the families she works with already struggle to access information about special education in Spanish and have to push for their children to receive the services they need.
She said IDEA is part of her children’s education every day and ensures they are supported, but recent federal actions have made families more fearful that their children's needs won’t be met.
“Because we don't know what's going on now, right? We don't know if our children’s rights, (if) it's going to be good for them,” Galan said.
Galan joined a group of Kansas City families with Parents for KC Kids who lobbied the offices of U.S. Reps. Emanuel Cleaver II and Mark Alford earlier this month, asking the congressmen to protect IDEA and public education.
Cleaver, a Democrat, said in a statement that he’s committed to protecting and fully funding IDEA. He’s cosigned a bill to increase IDEA funding to meet the federal government’s commitment to pay 40% of special education costs.
“IDEA is more than a law, it directly impacts the daily lives of students, families, and educators — from providing individualized learning plans to enabling access to specialized services that make meaningful learning possible,” Cleaver said.
In a statement, Alford, a Republican, said federal funding for special education is not at risk and the federal bureaucracy has “clearly failed” children.
“Returning education to the state level — where it is more accountable to the people — with federal funding through block grants is the right thing to do,” Alford said. “It is irresponsible and unconscionable for media and left-wing activist organizations to fear monger hardworking parents into panic over non-existent cuts to programs that help the children most in need of support."
Kansas City parents fear 50 years of progress is at risk
Local families said they’re worried about impacts to special education beyond funding and program cuts.
Galan said she’s worried students won’t have the support they need if the Trump administration moves special education oversight outside the Education Department. Special education advocates have voiced concerns that other agencies don’t have the expertise or capacity to take on the department’s responsibilities.
Laub said she’s also worried about special education oversight returning to states, where students struggled to access schools and services before IDEA’s passage.
“We have fought so hard for the last 50 years to make the progress that we have, and what we are seeing is a push to move back in time, and it puts everything that has been worked so hard for at risk,” Laub said.
Benjamin Roesler, a Kansas City father, said his 9-year-old son was diagnosed with autism last year and requires special attention at school.
But Roesler’s son also has special abilities, his father said. He’s creative, joyful and loving and has many special interests. He’s teaching himself Russian and is fascinated by aviation, shipwrecks and satellites, Roesler said.
“What we sacrifice by not providing for these kids is the potential that they all have to do great things and to become great people,” Roesler said.
He hopes lawmakers won’t gut special education funding. Without support for IDEA, he said children and society will suffer.
“These kind of things, they don't begin and end within the fiscal year budget,” Roesler said. “These things live on. Students that aren't invested in now grow up to be people who weren't invested in.”
