Good bye Office of Special Ed

 The Prez decimates the Office of Special Ed

Fifty years ago, President Ford signed the Education of All Handicapped Children Act.   In 2004, that became the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) signed by George W. Bush.  Twenty-one years after that, Donald Trump gutted the office at the federal level that was set up to enforce that federal law.  For five decades, OSERS (Office of Special Education and Rehab Services) has protected the rights of kids with disabilities under the 50-year old law.   Now, no more.

There are 7.5 million kids in our country who have disabilities.   If you begin to chip away at their rights, if you begin to turn back the clock FIFTY YEARS, you are hurting all of us.  When you chip away our rights, you also chip away at our moral obligations to those children.  

The federal law is implemented by the individual states.  States voluntarily signed on to participating in the law.  Every state has.  In turn, they receive funds to implement the law.  It’s not a great deal of money, roughly 7% of the cost of educating a child with a disability.  The other major role of the OSERS is to monitor the implementation of the law by the states.  Each state is required to set up a due process system so that families who feel their local school district is not acting with fidelity in providing that free and appropriate education have a venue to appeal.  The role of the feds has been to make sure that the states are doing their job in an unbiased manner.  Now there is no one watching the hen house.  

We are told the money will still be distributed.  So far there has been no notice of how or when.  Who will monitor how that money is used after if it is  distributed?   And right now we don't know if or when.  Who will care about the 7.5 million kids whose President seems to have forgotten all about them?