President-elect Donald Trump says he wants to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, but experts are split on what that would mean for students with disabilities across the nation.
On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to close the federal agency responsible for overseeing implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and enforcing it.
Shuttering the Education Department would require an act of Congress, but with the former president headed back to the White House, the question of how such a move might impact students in special education emerged at a public briefing of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights late last week.
Amidst a discussion about teacher shortages, Commissioner Mondaire Jones asked a panel of experts to address how closing the Department of Education could affect students with disabilities.
Eric Hanushek, a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University who specializes in the economics of education, said that the push to close the Education Department is largely political and wouldn’t fundamentally alter special education.
“I don’t think eliminating the Department of Education would do much,” he said. “Congress is the one who decides on appropriations and they would just redirect who in the executive branch is in charge of these appropriations. So that I don’t think it has any obvious impacts on IDEA funding or other funding.”
However, Hanushek did acknowledge that that doing away with the Education Department might lead to less emphasis on special education if it were tucked into a larger federal agency with other priorities and such changes could compromise the collection of data and the research role of the agency.
William Trachman, general counsel at Mountain States Legal Foundation, a conservative public interest law firm, said that the implications will largely come down to details.
“A lot of the question depends on what replaces a Department of Education,” Trachman said. “If you are merely moving the civil rights office to the (Department of Justice) and the special education office to (the Department of Health and Human Services) and you are block granting things to the states, a lot of the impact of what happens is going to be revealed through those details which I don’t believe any proposal have spelled out so far.”
Others, however, said the consequences of dismantling the Education Department could be dire for students with disabilities, particularly in terms of access and equity and the protection of civil rights.
“Without a large governing body, there is going to be no regulation on who gets what,” said Amanda Levin Mazin, a senior lecturer at Columbia University’s Teachers College. “So the disparities that already exist in educational opportunities for students not only with disabilities but students who are marginalized for other reasons will be exacerbated. There is no more, there will be no more guarantee of basic educational rights which is really what IDEA, Title I and other aspects of the Department of Education really provide.”
Levin Mazin noted that the Education Department plays a large role in providing funding to colleges and universities to prepare special education teachers and she worries that without the agency, the pipeline of qualified educators would end.
Likewise, Jessica Levin, litigation director at the nonprofit Education Law Center, noted that the Education Department is more than just a means to pass funding to states.
“It’s in federal law that the core of special education rights are found and the Department of Education and the experts within it play a crucial role in enforcing those civil rights for students with disabilities across the country,” she said. “This is an incredibly dangerous proposal both on a practical and symbolic level.”
In November, Special Olympics athlete Chris Nikic became the first person with Down syndrome to complete an Ironman triathlon. Nikic, 21, finished a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile marathon run at the Ironman Florida competition in Panama City Beach in 16 hours, 46 minutes and 9 seconds, just 14 minutes under the 17-hour cutoff time. Throughout his training and completion of the race, Nikic inspired others to follow in his footsteps.
Our 16-year-old daughter, Penny, wakes up to the beeping of her alarm. On her way downstairs, she picks up her iPhone to check her texts. She eats breakfast, gathers her sneakers and pompoms for cheerleading and heads to school. When Penny was diagnosed with Down syndrome a few hours after she was born, I didn’t expect our mornings to feel so ordinary.
We’ve all been impacted by Covid, but our community in particular has been hard hit.
A letter published recently in the American Journal of Psychiatry on behalf of the directors of the nation’s 13 intellectual and developmental disabilities research centers — which are funded by the National Institutes of Health — is sounding the alarm about the devastating impact the pandemic has had on an already vulnerable population.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A program that started in North Carolina to connect people with Down syndrome during social distancing is going global.
Every week, 14-year-old Melia Griffin goes to check the mail in hopes she will receive a letter from her pen pal Jenna. She is one of 125 people participating in the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Winston-Salem’s pen pal program. After social distancing requirements forced the organization to cancel all of its events and programming, the group thought of a way to help members socially and emotionally connect. Melia’s mother, Kendra Griffin, said it’s doing exactly that.
“Getting her letters and knowing that there’s not that many people with Down syndrome so it’s comforting as a mom to know that there’s other families just like ours not just here in the Triad but all around the world really,” Kendra Griffin said.
Melia lives in North Carolina and her pen pal Jenna lives in Michigan. After three weeks of sending letters back and fourth, Melia said the two have created a special bond.
“I want to go to Michigan, and I want to see her,” Melia Griffin said.
There are many relationships being formed through this program. Clay Janke, 8, lives in Nebraska. His pen pal is Josiah from North Carolina. Clay’s mother, Leah Janke said it’s a welcome distraction for the entire family.
“There’s something about paper mail. We’re taking anything that’s fun and exciting right now while everyone’s at home, so getting paper mail has been really fun and Clay likes to run out and check the mail box and see if he has any mail,” Janke said.
The program keeps growing, with no end in sight. Down Syndrome Association board president, McNeil Cronin, said the group’s goal is to bring on as many people as possible.
“Right now we are at over 30 states in the U.S., three different countries, so we’ve gone international, and we have over 125 members currently, and we are really proud of that. It’s struck a core with people all over the world, and it started right here in Winston-Salem,” Cronin added.
Participants range from the ages of 1 to 48 and are all from different races and backgrounds.
If your child has Down syndrome and would be interested in participating in the pen pal program, you can e-mail Executive Director, Jay Callahan, at [email protected].
Kayla McKeon…the FIRST individual with Down syndrome to serve as a lobbyist in Washington DC