The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expense of it.
~John Adams, President and Statesman, 1758
The Fourth of July always makes me think of freedom and free public schools for all America’s children, including students with disabilities.
The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 is generally troubling, and its education plan is worrisome. It involves Milton Friedman’s undemocratic ideas to privatize public education, and its voucher plan for students with disabilities will continue to end public school services as we know them.
Project 2025 will eliminate the costs and hard-fought legal protections for children with special education needs instead of strengthening the public school programs.
The All Handicapped Children Education Act
Since its start in 1975, The All Handicapped Children’s Education Act, now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), has opened public schools to children with disabilities. Before then, children had limited services, and many were mistreated in poor institutions.
The momentous passage of this act was a proud moment for America! For years afterward, public education focused on improving education for students with disabilities.
However, many politicians and policymakers have worked to undermine these school programs, believing this law is too expensive or wanting to privatize those services.
They reauthorized the Act in 1997 and 2004, when it changed to IDEA. They shuttered long time programs, turning a blind eye to states and local school districts that have pushed children out of services.
Consider how Texas officials denied children services for years, as did New Orleans by converting public schools to charters after Hurricane Katrina. Those reading this might have their own examples of how their local schools reneged on the necessary services.
In these cases the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) did not perform due diligence to stop states from rejecting students. A stronger federal department should have ensured that students who needed disability services got them.
As disability services have been whittled down throughout the years, parents have become increasingly frustrated with public schools and convinced they should remove their students with a voucher, even though other school options lack accountability and are often less than ideal.
Project 2025 is correct that there are too many lawsuits by parents unhappy with public school programs, but without public schools, parents will have no rights!
The Danger of Eliminating the U.S. Department of Education
Project 2025 wishes to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE). The USDOE should not be eliminated, but serve as a vital bridge, a unifying force, and a check on local and State education departments, ensuring the cohesive and well-rounded development of our public education system.
In recent years, the USDOE has failed, opening its doors to corporations wanting to end public education and funding elite-driven, unproven programs like Common Core State Standards. It hasn’t supported teachers, students, and parents like it should and has reduced student privacy protections.
However, the USDOE is still responsible for vital programs, like special education, ensuring students from infancy to age 21 have services, Title I programs, and more, to ensure that there are no barriers for children educated in America.
The Heritage Foundation wants to transfer this responsibility to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, reconfiguring funding so it goes to parents instead of schools, putting those programs and public schools at greater risk.
They want funds to be block-granted to states without strings, eliminating the need for many federal and state bureaucrats (p. 320, Project 2025). Without strings is another way to say disregard the law.
Why were these laws put in place to begin with? To protect the rights of children with disabilities. With no strings attached, school districts will be free to use the funding for anything, and children will have an even harder time finding affordable schools with credentialled teachers.
Instead of eliminating the USDOE, this department should be restructured, with its boundaries clearly set, to support America’s public schools and the students and their teachers in those schools, including children with disabilities.
Vouchers or Educational Savings Accounts are Not Real Choice
Vouchers are problematic for students with disabilities as the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPPA) describes here:
Families encounter financial strain because the funding provided by the voucher program does not cover transportation or other necessary services and supports that a student needs.
Private or religious schools push out children they determine too hard to educate. There is little to no protection if the child is asked to leave the private/religious school.
Special-education specific voucher programs typically fail to include all students with disabilities and it is rare for programs to accept students who are twice exceptional.
There is often no accountability for student outcomes in a private or religious school. Typical “consumer” accountability does not always work as students with disabilities are often counseled out or found not eligible for private school due to the complexities or challenges of their needs.
Too little data exists to compare the academic outcomes of students with disabilities [and other students] participating in voucher programs to public school students.
The Fallacy of Choice: The Destructive Effect of School Vouchers on Children with Disabilities by Farrel and Marx, also states:
School voucher programs require students with disabilities to sign away their robust federal rights and protections in the public school system. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)—the preeminent legislative safeguard for students with disabilities—these rights include the right to a “free and appropriate public education” delivered through an “individualized education plan.” By giving up these protections, children with disabilities are left at the mercy of private schools that have no legal obligation to provide them with an appropriate education, and, in the vast majority of cases, are not legally prohibited from discriminating against them on the basis of their disability.
And then there’s this from The Emory Law Journal with Claire Raj’s Coerced Choice: School Vouchers and Students with Disabilities:
While states claim that vouchers for students with disabilities are justified by better educational outcomes, many states are, in fact, motivated by their desire to eliminate the costs and burdens associated with educating students with disabilities in public schools. Moreover, far from providing a benefit, vouchers have the potential to resegregate students with disabilities—an ironic outcome given that federal disability rights law was founded on the principle of inclusion for all children.
Project 2025 looks like it will end public school services for children with disabilities, completing the dismantling of public schooling that we’ve seen for years.
Our public schools aren’t perfect. Much has been done to them in the name of privatization. But Americans might want to think twice before rejecting them. Instead, they might want to roll up their sleeves and see how to save their schools. If not, the loss will have repercussions for years to come, especially for our children with disabilities.
Extra harmful since the IEP system is also used as a dispositioning process for any child that doesn’t meet the ever-accelerating “standards” starting in the early days of kindergarten. Parents of struggling students are encouraged/pressured to seek out any and all diagnoses to “get them qualified for services” (exact phrase used by our Principal, as if my child was a subprime mortgage).. Then you do all of that only to be told how the services you need aren’t available, they can’t hire any aides, etc. Meanwhile the child is continually pathologized.
You can merge/overlay this with the increasing work of people like Richard Reeves who is calling out the cultural effects of boys struggling in school and then society and how that counteracts the progress made for women’s equality as they struggle to find equal partners (in heterosexual relationships).
What I’ve described above is analogous to a real failed manufacturing philosophy where manufacturing defects are sent to a parking lot to be dealt with later, by others without the experience to fix them. The US automakers like GM valued “never ever stop the line” as the primary path of efficiency. Instead, workers became overwhelmed when other systems failed to deliver the right parts or tools at the right time, leading to increased mistakes and no way to feel empowered or ownership over your station. So you pass the cars along to be someone else’s problem. In contrast, Toyota workers did stop the line and problems were resolved quickly by those with the most expertise for that operation- stopping the line forced management to respond quickly and fix problems upstream, while individual employees were empowered to raise their hand and command quality.
Thank you, Paula. This is very well written and thought out. I love the comparison with car manufacturers. This speaks volumes alone.
All I know is what I have lived…I concur with Paula. At one point somewhere in my teaching career the district wanted us to “get more students qualified” by seeking out whatever qualified for 504 or IEP. And heaven forbid when I really, really, really wanted to help a child because I noticed things like, can’t remember what they read five to seven sentences into a passage; color blind; migraines, eye fluttering; and a host of other issues, I was scolded. What? You just said…Apparently a district is not to be “out of compliance by a certain percentage of students who need IEPs and whatnot. All I know is if a child qualified for services whether they were GATE (Gifted and Talented) or had learning difficulties, I wanted to make sure they had support. Most of the time, I spent my own time after school and in meetings to make sure the child had services and the parents knew their rights. It did work and many students were successful and graduated from high school. I easily could have looked the other way and just said, “Focus more” like the students who were at private schools (believe it or not, I had three students with brain injuries during my after school tutoring job). I asked, “And what did they tell you to do?” “Focus more.” I explained to the parents they would get more support in public schools. I dealt directly with my district psychologist. And interestingly enough, when he had a certain student with a particular need, he sent them to me. Why? I was just “some guy.” He said, “I knew you would never look the other way.” Like I said, my teaching career was quite a ride. Thanks for listening.
Thank you, Rick! Thank you for mentioning gifted and talented children. I agree that every student deserves a supportive classroom environment where they can thrive. I appreciate that you worked towards this end. You sound like a dynamic teacher!
The IDEA requires Districts’ “Local Area” to seek children who need services. That is part of Federal law. So, this would be a big blow if this 2025 plan were to be allowed to proceed.
Great point, Jill. Thank you.
Thank you!!! If there was only two more of you.
Rick, I was also that kind of teacher. Even in retirement my husband and I work with special needs/sensory room in Kids Church at the church we attend. Paula’s comparison to car production is such a great analogy!
The request to “get more students qualified” seems like a step in the right direction. I’ve noticed though it seems another way to kick the can down the road. It creates scenarios where parents are pressured into self funding expensive neuropsych evaluations, only to discover then after an IEP is done that there is minimal adherence by the school staff and no extra support offered.
It appears there is no governing body ensuring standards are upheld. The parents are left with the option of lawsuits, which is never what they wanted to begin with.
On its face it seems like these districts just want to run these families off. With what the district spends on lawyers they could’ve paid for an aide for the child.
The best example of school districts intentionally running off disabled students centers on one in Ohio. They built a new k-12 school. Multi level, not a single elevator. Stairs through the entire thing. Sure prevents disabled kids from FAPE. Or socializing with their peers.
Again, where is the governing body who should oversee this?
They are not following Ohio code. https://up.codes/viewer/ohio/ibc-2015/chapter/11/accessibility#11
All of this should be monitored and addressed at the state level. I wonder where the state evaluators (auditors) are.
Unfortunately, codes and regulations in regard to IDEA are being ignored by the powers-to-be in many states today. when I was a director of sp. ed. back in the 70’s, administrators were very vigilant in regard to rules and codes. I believe under funding of sp. ed. is the root of the problem.
Thank you! Because PEOPLE ACTUALLY CARED ABOUT HUMANITY BACK THEN!!!!
Thank you, Linda!
In the 80’s, each state had to have an advocacy group for students with special needs. In Idaho, it was COAD (Coalition for the Advocacy for Disabilities—if I recall correctly). This group had an attorney that I tried very hard not to have to deal with. I have not kept track on whether such an entity is still required for each state.
There is an agency that oversees something like elevators. It’s tha ADA and it has teeth.
Yes! Thank you, Karen!
I too taught special education for several years. I loved it. There’s too many teachers that ‘look the other way’. I had a senior that didn’t even know her ABCs, and she was going to graduate the following spring! I only had her one semester in 1999. Between August and the end of November, we were out a lot for snow days. That child learned her alphabet and was reading two and three letter words.
I had to resign for health reasons. I feel she was doing so well. I think of her offen. All she needed was someone who cared. I did it with a ABC Bingo game and the first of the Hooked on Phonix program.
I do miss it. I had to go on disability in ’05. I had leukemia and wasn’t given long to live.
Thank you for your comments, Karen. I hope you’re well now.
You sound like a great teacher. Thank you for your dedication to the children of America.
I am a parent with 3 times neurodivergent profoundly Dyslexic auditory processing, And severe ADHD, i am 52 years old my son also all as i am was diagnosed by the age of 7-8 by 4th grade….. my son was just assaulted by a police officer while the same cop verbally assaulted me i was fined $515 within 11 days and now i appeal it was just reverse convicted of his crime Because my son’s IEP was not being implemented THIS district is KKK history i was also whistle blower for 4 elementary students young being spit on and call N word yea 2023 1990 here was 1st year a Black family could own a piece of property (?!) i now have a criminal record because i am fighting for my son’s education the NEW threat is that DR Margaret Kay has declared after 5 1/2 hours testing that my SON no longer has Dyslexia he is healed by Boyertown school district he doesn’t need an IEP anymore!!! The SYSTEM at BEST is broken as a single MOM with profound disabilities myself i have been lost in a system that worked better in Rhode Island/ Massachusetts 80-90’s iHellen Keller would see today pun intended bring her to tears!!!! The judge jill S. had the audacity to say in the courtroom I could send you to 90 days in jail, but Because you’re taking care of a minor I won’t do that.(?!) The video completely cleared me of all responsibility. They had secretaries lie in court (?!) Exaggerate
I am sorry you’re going through this, Christine. I hope you can find support through someone at the school, a counselor or teacher perhaps, or outside of school. It sounds like you have a lot on your plate and anyone in your situation has the right to seek assistance. Public schools should be offering your son the services required. I agree with you that the system needs repair.
Thank you for sharing your story. I know you’re not alone and I hope there’s someone out there who might have some better advice. Let me know how things go.
That was a great thing you did I wish they help more as a grown women I have a learning disability but as time goes on I teach my self as the best of my abilities thank you for being there for others and God bless you
You go Dominique!!!
I am a parent of two children with disabilities. It is quite the obstacle dealing with the IEP teams and the lack of resources provided at times. I am currently dealing with going through getting a facilitated IEP. I learned that ESA vouchers truly do not provide everything you need. Unfortunately, as mentioned you lose all of your federal and state rights. I never knew that until a disability lawyer explained that to me.
Parent’s at times do have to fight even within their public school district for services. I understand no school is perfect. I am willing for my children and others to fight to get things changed. I like what Ms. Nancy mentioned rolling up your sleeves and getting involved. I will be finding ways to do that with the schools my kids are attending this year. Another part of this is advocating for these children. If we do not do that who will? Thank you for this article is was informative and also encouraging. More Parent’s need to rally to not just complain. Assist in coming up with solutions to make education for children with disabilities better.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Teniecka. Getting involved as a parent in your child’s school is a great way to learn what’s happening and assist your child and other children. I love your spirit.
Special education is not working at this point. I am not for cutting it out, but it needs to change dramatically. It doesn’t help 90% of the students served. Students in America have really changed over the last 20 years especially students that need special services. We trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. We are completely off the target with many of these students.
Thanks for your comment, John. I’m curious why you don’t think it’s working and how you think it could be better. I likely agree with you about how it stands today. I think it was better in the 80s’ and 90s’ in most schools.
That’s so accurate. You have to have the love for it. So many are for the paycheck.
Perhaps instead of posting lies, actually post what the policy entails for Project 2025, regarding the positive changes aligned for our educational system. I actually went and READ for myself. STOP lying. The newly written plan of action is the exact opposite of this bologna, gooblygock article. I work in this VERY field, so seeing the clock bait title in my news feed, most definitely got my attention. It’s a fabulous plan that actually provides MORE funding to the parents and helps provide MORE services for School aged children, especially children with special needs! These lefties are vicious. Geez… Grow up and get a life!
I don’t consider myself a “lefty,” and everything I wrote here is based on what I read in Project 2025. I hate lying and try to cite what I write based on the facts I find on the issues.
I’m also pretty much “grown-up,” so much so that I remember the original PL94-142, which was meant to protect children with disabilities, many of who were institutionalized in poor conditions.
If you’d like to elaborate, I am curious about your work in this field. And please show where what I said is a lie. Thank you.
It provides more funding and more services? Where?
Parent of 2 IEP Kids here. Honestly a lot of IEP services and assessments are garbage and a waste of time.
I ended up in mediation after requesting 2 IEE following a triennial (and being denied) for my 7th grader.
I am now free for 2 years with a money pot to cover therapy, material and mileage….
I can finally address needs that were not or badly met with professionals that work for me and not for the school….
It is more work for the parent but worth it.
That said, still having an IEP to check on progress and such wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
I agree that IEPs are now troubling. They involve many students in overcrowded inclusion classes, where it is difficult for general teachers to provide the services they need. Special educators have watched as they have been villainized for years for trying to do the right thing for children with disabilities that many politicians don’t want to pay for.
But I have NO idea what kind of “therapy” your child is getting, what kind of materials you’re getting, or if they will improve your child’s disability. As an educator and a taxpayer, this bothers me. There’s NO accountability.
And then you end by saying an IEP “wouldn’t be bad.” Let’s meet in the middle and say that public schools’ IEP process needs improvement. That funding should go to that.
Thank you for your comment, even though I’m afraid I have to disagree with some of it. It was important to be said since many parents think like you on this issue.
The “special education chairs and committees” I dealt with were not looking out for my son’s best interests. Their main concern was cutting as many services as possible to save a dollar. Parents need to be on top of these meetings and read those IEPs. The school district tried to schedule me for those 15-minute IEP meetings, but every time I respond, you should know by now this will take longer than 15 minutes. They finally transferred him to a private school and admitted they couldn’t provide him with the needed services, but the central district still controls the IEP. I’m so happy he is out of school now. My advice to parents is to stay on top of those IEPs and request a parent advocate be present if it overwhelms you.
I’m sorry to hear this. It sounds like more intentional denying of services to end the program
Do you mean your child is on a waiver of some sort?
Where are they going to find special educators ? What happened to inclusion and main streaming them into a classroom?
You’re sadly on point. I recently completed a chapter for a book about the future of education that will be out soon about what’s happening with special education. A worrisome development is the reduction of university preparation in this area, while at the same time, there’s an increase in children with disabilities.
However, that doesn’t mean private or parochial schools will provide better teachers. Those teachers need university preparation to adequately address the needs of this population as well.
It’s crazy for universities to not address special needs given the rate of teachers that stay in the profession after their first 5 years.
The issue I e noticed with voucher advocates is that they don’t take all kids’ needs into consideration. How are kids in rural areas supposed to access services via vouchers? Parents with resources and the capacity to arrange services isn’t a given for all children.
Correct, Heather. Universities dropped the ball by reducing the special ed. classes to one or two that general ed. teachers take for credentials. We need specialists who do in-depth study in every area.
Also, you are correct about vouchers. Parent are led to believe the grass will be greener in a private school but they may not have their children accepted into those schools, or they may have to resort to a school that is not inclusive.
Thank you!
It starts with us parents, by educaticating ourselves and advocating when needed. It shouldn’t have to come down to the child themselves having to feel the need to attend a board meeting to ask for fairness and equal opportunity at attending our local high school. Our district is well off in fact they recently approved a multi million dollar project to improve school facilities. Laguna has only one high school and they claim to not have a seat for the incoming freshmen this fall that require a modified classroom. They rather pay the transportation cost and send them out to the neighboring school district. Placing a student of special needs in the LRE is how placement is decided. Instead of working on providing our children with a least restrictive enviorment locally it’s easier to send them off. It is hard work but that’s what our educators get the educated to do. The community has spoken out, the funds are obviously not a problem if transportation cost are being provided. If the lack of special needs students is the problem then instead of adding to the classroom sizes in another district then why not help alleviate and by doing so you can provide the LRE that is currently unavailable to your student. Private school is not what we want we want inclusion and equality. Acces to an equal quality of education,learning and healthy development that in the future is fruitful as they go on to become adults. Not just a person that basically babysits and clocks out just to do it all over again, I can do that myself and better. So if that’s the case then you should just add me to your payroll and I’ll find opportunities for my child to thrive.
Thanks, Karen. You make a lot of sense. Parents shouldn’t have to shoulder the responsibility either. A great school with professionals (teachers, school psychologists, specialists, counselors, etc.) is responsible for putting forth a plan for parental approval after collecting a lot of information about the child, including from parents. Parents work with such a team to get it right and they must be heard.
Is that really what you want? To push them into an already overcrowded classroom where kids are going to tease and bully them, so they can disrupt those who are trying to learn.
I have nothing against people who struggle with education. I had issues myself… ADHD, autism and bulemia … Somehow I made it into gifted and talented. I struggled to focus anyway, so let’s sit me next to another struggling student who brings cars to the classroom to play with. Every day, I would take the toys away and put them in my desk until class was over – so I could try to learn something.
And every day, I worried about getting into trouble but education was important to me.. At the end of the first nine weeks, my teacher thanked me. I didn’t complain or create undue stress for her, He sat at the end of the back row so I was the only one who had to deal with him and I did so to the best of my ability, as nicely as I could. I treated him like I would my favorite cousin who has the mind of a 12 year old but is now 50.
A few years later, I had a teacher who only assigned 4 math problems a day. I was bored. Her response….. She’s not there to teach the students, She’s there to teach the class. Remember that…
There are some great teachers out there but there are also those who are just doing what is minimally required.
This is a sick joke! This woman and her policies want to punish the children that have disabilities by removing the opportunity to get educated!!! I have 2 young children in school with an IEP right now. One is for her speech, and the other had more developmental delays. He will be going to 1st grade in the upcoming school year in the normal 1st grade kid setting thanks to his IEP and him working hard and his wonderful team on track to where he needs to be. 2 years ago, before pre-k, he was a struggling little boy. No matter how hard I tried to work with him, I had people working against me. Being in school with his IEP, he has been such a better opportunity to learn and has grown so much.
Someone above also mentioned the gifted and talented kids. I also have another child starting Early College because she has gone up and beyond her education limits. She didn’t need an IEP ever. What are your plans to screw the g&t kids education up??
This woman and her project is sick and disgusting. And parents should fight gor the children’s educational rights to learn.
Tiffany, I am so happy to hear how well your children are doing! This was always the goal of resource classes and self-contained classes in some instances…to get children back to general classes and then to monitor their progress.
Unfortunately, not all schools and programs are alike, and I think those who complain likely have not had a decent experience and paint all programs alike.
But having a great IEP team that works together to get children the services they need and to be sensitive to parental concerns is completely where it’s at. Thanks for making my day!
I have a son with a disability. The IEP classifies him out of district and he’s allowed to go to a speciality school where he gets instruction for his delays in low student ratio to aides and teachers setting. He wouldn’t flourish in another environment and the IEP provided excellent support for him. It is needed. He also gets therapy time at school. Dll these services could not be rendered in mainstream classroom. What’s troubling though is the lack of people getting involved in the field to help disabled students. And thea k of paychecks was Ted to work on the field. There is a hard time finding workers for the entire sector public or not of working with disabled population. Someone needs to bring light on that and find a solution there.
I agree! We need more teachers and they need to be treated better and compensated fairly. Thank you!
IDEA the federal law for students with disabilities doesn’t end if the Department of Education ends. Congress has to vote to end the IDEA.
Parents can continue to sue school districts when the school fails the child,
I understand your concern about vouchers.
Thank you. Yes. But it will come closer to that end if it isn’t prioritized with an education department.
A well-running great USDOE should monitor the State and Local education systems with the students’ families and teachers in mind. Without that, we can kiss public education goodbye.
Absolutely!! The US DOE is there to hold states accountable. They definitely need changes and improvements, but without accountability, it will turn public education into a privelage, not a right. Big businesses can and will swoop in (they’ve already done that with many failed charters), take education funds to open schools where there will be little accountability and where they can discriminate against certain populations ( especially those with disabilities who might affect their performance index) and divert funding away from the most vulnerable populations.
Unfortunately, I agree that you’re correct, Rebecca. Thank you.
I am an early childhood special education teacher and what is worrisome is the many children that would never receive services and education without identified disabilities (such as autism). The children I have worked with are high functioning and generally learn on par with typically developing kiddos. But there are those that without proper disability identification (which comes through early assessment through head start and/or special ed preschool programs) their disabilities would simply be written off as behavioral issues. Highly educated and trained teachers that can identify these kiddos and support them are needed and many teachers without this training do not understand children with these sort of disabilities. What will happen to the children?
Currently, the special education field is progressing and transitioning into including programs where children with disabilities are mainstreamed completely into the general education population and classroom. Where are the teachers to work with these kiddos? Where will they come from and how will they be utilized?
Currently, under IDEA, parents have rights that enable them to get their children a free and public education in the Least Restrictive Environment. Inclusion classes make this possible.
How will Project 2025 protect these rights and expand on them and improve the current especially in this transitioning phase, especially for children with “behaviors” that public schools do not generally support in non-punitive ways?
You’re correct. I think IDEA’s push to have inclusion, also without lowering class sizes for many teachers, sadly, involved a serious intent to end special services. But IDEA still provides protections that will not be replaced if parents get vouchers or even if they take their children to charter schools.
Your last paragraph is the question that needs answering surrounding Project 2025. Thank you.
First, we are all grown and no what Project 2025’s real intent is. It is being created to re-create segregation in the schools. That spells trouble for children with disabilities and also for children of different race and ethnicities. It takes a real cowardly weasel to think up something so heinous.
Thank you, Ms. Bailey, for your thoughtful article on the troubling plan to “fix” American education. In reading the educational parts of the plan, I saw a few suggestions, but overall it is a danger to public education because it believes in a simple fix (vouchers and parental rights) for a complex issue.
By the way, is there any documanted instance of any parent/guradian ever being denied his/her “rights’?
Thank you, Roger. Are you asking about parents with children with disabilities who challenge the public school and don’t get what they demand? Yes. I’ve known parents who didn’t get what they requested and some that did. Every case is different.
However, private, parochial, or charter school parents might not get that opportunity. Those schools are not always required to serve children with disabilities, especially in an inclusive setting.
Calling IDEA robust is incredibly misleading. The wording is *so* subjective, it isn’t enforced hardly at all, school districts almost always win lawsuits because they have no money setting precidents in almost every district that harm parents about to enforce IDEA….vochures aren’t a solution but neither is lying to ourselves about what the laws we have can do.
I don’t like some of the changes made with IDEA, but you might want to review history. Public schools have come a long way serving children with serious disabilities. Certainly you aren’t advocating a return to before PL 94-142. As I stated, we need to strengthen what we have including the USDOE.
As a special educator in the public school system for almost 10 years myself, this article was pretty spot-on about Project 25’s, “solutions.” The abolishing and dismantling of the DOE (or USDOE) would be a nightmare for education as a whole and a particular attack on students with disabilities, learning differences, and the gifted. Because of IDEA and FAPE, the US is one of the only countries that is required to provide an education to ALL. Are there imperfections? Well, of course, but having no federal agency to oversee educantional institutions, parental complaints and enforce procedural safeguards, students with disabilities could and would be denied FAPE. I understand the notion behind “states’ rights” but not all states in our USA are created equal when it comes to public education.
Some of the comments here I find troubling… Parents, you do not have it easy, I get it, but it’s called an IEP Team for a reason. We are a team. Read and understand that your rights as a parent of a child(ren) with an IEP are protected, right now, and as stated in the article, should be improved upon, not revoked through dismantling and voucher systems. Even in our current state of laws and regulations, private and parochial schools can deny services or education to students with special needs and learning differences.
Education is a human right. Everyone can learn (and needs to learn something), and most teachers are there doing all that they can, with very little, to ensure students get what they need, especially special education teachers.
Please, I beg of you all, see that public education is the best hope for all of our students. Education is not a business, and many need to see that it is a service that can do so much more if we had more advocating for what it needs instead of gutting-it. Education is not merely teaching some skills and what to think, it’s modeling an inquiry based approach, hands- on experiences, trial and error, being proud of success but learning most from failure, our greatest teacher.
Just so you don’t think I’m just preaching, some viable solutions I think would, could, should improve what we have includes more federal funding for public education, a set of standards that are skill-based and on a developmentally appropriate continuum, federal standards set for teacher education programs, federal teacher certifications instead of through the state, special education programs that require more restrictive settings be provided within the district, true inclusion done the right way, pay to match experience and education of teachers, and training and pay for teacher assistants/ paraprofessionals/ aides, smaller class sizes, more teachers and TAs, all teachers trained in the special education process, and more parent involvement opportunities.
Thanks for reading my thoughts, and I thank the author for this article.
Thank you! Many will agree with you. I appreciate the time you took to write this. It’s very well said.
I believe it was titled the “Mathias Formula” when Senate Bill 6 was moving forward towards the PL 94-142. This formula basically guaranteed Federal funding 40% of the cost of providing special education services. As of the last time I checked, the funding from the Feds amounts to about 17% of the cost of special education. Special Ed. is an ongoing unfunded mandate.
I was a director of special education and when the funds available to provide an appropriate education were not available as promised, I found a different job, reluctantly.
Thank you, Paul. Appreciated.
This got me to look up Mathias, and I found this which may be of interest in https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED373469.pdf pages 24-25:
Fiscal Changes. The fiscal provisions of the Education of the Handicapped
Amendments of 1974 included a significant change in the EHA state grant
program that had originated in a Senate amendment, which had been offeredby Senator Charles Mathias of Maryland (see Fraas, 1986). The “Mathias
Amendment” proposed a federal entitlement w the states of up to $15 times
the average daily attendance in public schools in the state. In support of this
amendment, Senator Mathias pointed to a recent court decision in Marylandt, gat had reaffirmed the findings of other courts that all children with
IDEA: Historical Overview 19
24
III. Historical Background of the State Grant Program
disabilities must have access to a free public education. He argued that such
court mandates were impossible to implement with available state and local
funds, and that federal support must be more generous, asking
Why must the Congress withhold desperately needed financial support?
Why should the Congress stand idly by while court action is heaped
upon court action? Why should we leave it up to the judicial branch to
affirm the Constitution? (Mathias, 1974, p. 15269)
Senator Stafford, ranking minority member of the Subcommittee on the
Handicapped, added fundamental protections to the Mathias proposal for
increased funding in an amendment that was adopted in the Senate. The
Amendment
required states to adopt a goal of providing a free appropriate public
education to all handicapped children
established a priority of serving children not currently receiving an
education
required that children with disabilities be served in the least
restrictive environment
required due process guarantees
limited authorizations to FY 1975
Thank you for sharing this information. It has been said that funding does not guarantee quality in providing educational services. However, without adequate funding, quality will not be attainable. Vouchers and choice will weaken a system that, while not perfect, has done a pretty good job of providing services to kids with disabilities.
I totally agree! Thank you again!
People should never be saying the word retarded and handicapped those words are insulting people with disabilities should be treated equally like others that are not. I was in special education in elementary through highschool and when I graduated from high school and I got a regular highschool diploma they need to stop the certificate of completion alot of jobs want a regular highschool diploma
Please read the affects of calling a person a “retard.” This is from a good friend of mine. He finally wanted to write about the life he lived. https://salmonstudio.wixsite.com/yohnke/post/ramblings-from-a-retard
Labels evolve over time as people become better at serving children and adults with disabilities. The All Handicapped Children’s Act was a great move forward to assist children with disabilities, and the use of the word retardation, believe it or not, was used to identify students and better understand how to assist them. Of course, today those words are not considered appropriate.
In far too many districts Nationwide, IDEA is not only not adhered to but fought hard against by seedy school administration and their even more shady legal representation. We moved from a top 3 education State to the educational embarrassment that is Oklahoma and lost years of progress due to their open violations of Federal Law. When we attempted to resolve the situation, our family was attacked by the district and their child hatong attorney. Our child suffered a head injury at school due to their lack of adequate staff and services without so much as an apology from administration. We left the State and saw immediate improvement elsewhere. Sadly, resources are stretched thin even in the best of locations. We the parents need to do whatever we need to do to ensure the most appropriate level of educational and support services while public schools continue to fail our children more and more every year.
It is sad to see school districts turn on the children they’re supposed to serve. I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through this. It’s another way to drive children who rely on IDEA out, where they’ll end up without any services unless they’re lucky.
Why are we surprised we all see how a lot of the places that took care of special needs People were left to buy their own P.P.E during the pandemic, we all know that this government only help people that pay taxes and work. These individuals are only a burden to this government. My son lives in a facility and all the parents had to buy ppe… and further opwdd What’s made to healthy facilities? But instead they let them do whatever they want.
We need to get in touch with these officials and fight.
Gloria, I’m sorry things aren’t working out for you. I think it might be helpful to reach out to others you know to organize and work to respectfully approach the school board or those responsible for funding your child’s facility. You can make a difference, but there’s often strength in numbers. I was writing just now about how teachers have to beg for necessities on Donor’s Choose. It truly is unbelievable. Thank you for your comment. Let me know how things work out.
I learned very quickly if I didn’t take action, nothing would get done. I probably have mentioned, I never cried about it, but I worked three jobs, i.e., coaching, tutoring, and my adult ed night and Saturdays. On those Saturdays I had plenty of “think time” to help those students who were never given the correct information. Through the many adults (who were many people with IEPs, learning disabilities who “grew up”) I found resources and advocates to FIGHT for their RIGHTS. It takes a lot of time, but there are resources who will go to bat for those in need. We I retired, I had two classrooms filled with supplies (I purchased) to do my job correctly and make sure I could walk away knowing I made and education the best I could for my students. I gave all my supplies away to those in need. It was WORK. Sad to say I became a very efficient “dumpster diver”. But, and to this day, I continue to THANK my community for helping me help my kids for donating thousands of dollars worth of art supplies that otherwise would have ended up in the trash. One person gave me a WalMart card and said, “I want YOU to have this because I DO NOT want the school to get their hands on it. I want you to get the supplies you need.” Like I said, now that I have time to reflect, I spent hours and hours finding ways to make education positive for ALL my students the only way I knew how. It was pure survival.
Sadly, quite a few teachers can identify with this, Rick. Thank you for sharing your experience. How kind of that person to give you a card to get what you needed for your class, but public ed. should be better funded and everyone knows it.
I belong to the Oregon Retired Educators Association Unit #1, Portland, Oregon. We have a number of projects that help teachers directly. Our members volunteer at Schoolhouse Supplies which accepts donated supplies and stocks an onsite store for teachers to shop at for free once a month. This organization also holds a Thank You Teachers event once a year where teachers are honored and walk away with a shopping cart full of supplies for the next year.
Unit #1 has a mini-grant program that educators can apply to for projects they want to carry out but do not have the funds to make a reality. Grants are for up to $250.00 and the application is one page and basically just asks for a brief description of what the educator wants to do.
Unit #1 also has a Teachers’ Brigade that provides volunteers in local classrooms and a school library.
Unit #1 also provides docents to host visitors to the Criterion Schoolhouse during the Oregon State Fair. This Schoolhouse exists to pay tribute to Oregon public education and Lifelong learning.
Unit #1 works hard and plays hard! We support public education and are proud of it!
Teachers need all the help they can get. This is good to hear. Thank you, Paul!
I have a child with autism who is now 21 and has been in every possible iteration of education except for fully private school. She was diagnosed at 3 and was immediately assessed and given an IEP. She was placed in a pre-pre-kindergarten class with other children with various special needs. She had a wonderful teacher and three aides in the class., but it was an absolute waste of time. My daughter would wander off to different areas of the classroom and they would let her. She got nothing out of it. We turned next to a brand new charter school that was opening up to educate students with autism. She attended pre-kindergarten there, and received speech and OT therapy. Her teacher successfully helped us potty train her at 4 yrs old. Only issue? They literally lost her for over 30 minutes on their playground. Heart attack for me!! They closed the location we were attending and we had to drag her to their main location 45 minutes from us, but did it for K, 1, and 2. The school was struggling to keep its doors open, she spent a half year with an unqualified teacher, and on advice of her best teacher, we switched to the public school. Grade 3 was in an autism classroom where she picked up tons of stimming habits. Grades 4 and 5 they insisted on putting her in mainstream classrooms. This did NOT work!! Going into middle school, they wanted to keep her in mainstream classrooms based on her IQ, which was allegedly two points above their cutoff point. She would have had to navigate the middle school on her own with no help. I almost lost my mind until I pulled out her most recent psych eval and realized they picked up a different test score as her IQ. Her actual IQ was well below the cutoff point and we got a big “Oh” back from the team. Middle school was all autism classrooms, as was high school. She received speech therapy all the way through school, although they kept trying to cut it. She needed more OT, but they refused on the basis that she could “do everything needed to perform independently at school” such as opening a lunch box, holding a pencil, etc.
The lack of preparation for life after high school is my biggest complaint, along with the lack of electives for special needs kids in high school. Throwing these kids into mainstream classrooms with teachers who have no clue how to help them beyond eliminating elements of the curriculum that they don’t think the child can do is ridiculous. Most special ed kids can’t integrate properly in mainstream classrooms because there’s no help for them. It would be FAR more useful to require all the mainstream kids to take a class at least once where they come into the special needs classrooms and get to know the kids and understand the challenges they face, to gain some compassion and empathy for them, and to recognize that special needs kids have much to offer the world if the world would stop underestimating them. Give them jobs that they can excel at, pay them a wage they can live on, and help them live happy, productive, independent lives to whatever degree possible. The schools ALL fail at this most basic component. Inclusion doesn’t have to mean stuffing kids who can’t keep up in regular Ed classrooms. Instead, it can mean bringing mainstream students into their world to help and support them and literally learn that there’s value in all people, even if they can’t keep up with everyone else.
As for preparing these kids for life post-high school, they don’t. The schools are so used to focusing on only doing what they need to do to make the kids functional in a school setting and/or teaching to the curriculum that they fail to address the glaring needs of these kids. They also fail to individualize instruction, despite that being the point of an IEP. Everything is geared to the lowest common denominator. Apparently, the schools believe that cleaning and food prep are the best possible careers that our kids can aspire to. It’s required in our high school! Oh, and they can do the recycling. How about training them for office work? Specific computer-based software tasks? Nope. Cleaning and food prep. Why? Because it’s easy – there’s a cafeteria at every school.
IDEA is a wonderful start, but it’s inadequately funded, which leads schools (and the state DOE) to deny services kids need, educate them with unqualified teachers, dump them in mainstream classrooms in which they are utterly lost, or warehouse them in one-size-fits-all special needs classrooms. I don’t know what the solution is. I truly don’t, but the entire system needs an overhaul.
Barbara, thank you for taking the time to describe clearly your child’s (and your) situation. I’m so sorry you both have had to go through this. I am of the opinion that special education changed dramatically in 1998 and again in 2004 with the reauthorization of the original law, and to the disservice of many children with autism and other disabilities.
On one hand, we want to always let students experience the general education class if we can, but the changes went too far, condemning self-contained and resource classes where students could get more individualized and small group assistance.
The other problem involves high-stakes standardized tests and insisting that the only success for a child involves passing these tests. I’m afraid many parents now want their children to pass those tests and be in general classes thinking they will be educated better (like everyone else) and that’s what all children need.
But all children have a variety of strengths and weaknesses with learning and various future goals that are unique. We should help every child with the disabilities they face helping them succeed for what they can do.
At this point in time the push is to end special education and insist that all children pass the narrow tests. If one argues with this they risk being told they have low expectations. I agree students with disabilities need far more options.
Amazing I’m an early educator and I work at a school that actually when I need children to be evaluated further and have help I’ve got the door shut in my face saying that they don’t want to process paperwork for the children it costs us too much money so they leave the children to have to wait until they get to elementary school to get tested and get help this here already has made my main question my place as a teacher and now your saying all the children with differences may be left behind.
Whatever happened to No Child Left Behind….1 out of 26 children have a difference and learning disabilities is even higher than that ..
Hi. I live in Texas. Is it possible to integrate private one-on-one teaching/tutoring services during the school day with public school services? In other words is it legal for me to hire a private spec ed certified tutor/teacher to go into the school and render one-on-one services to my son during his reading, math and science classes only? The reason I cannot pull my son from public school because I believe it would plummet him into depression because he is so used to being around other kids especially the general ed population. So in order to meet his social needs and physical needs (physical ed), enjoying the school spirit (camaraderie), career path opportunities, I want him to still be apart of public school. My son is 17 in the 11 grade and is on the Autism spectrum at a level 2 (requires substantial support) from moderate to severe. He reads and does math on 3rd grade level. According to his IEP he has been on this same level since 9th grade. When I was paying for tutoring from Sylvian twice a week during 9th grade summer he was showing reasonable progress but I only could afford it for the summer. During ARD meetings I’ve said that Harold benefits most from one-on-one services for the entire classroom time. Right now he needs someone working directly with him helping him through the lesson and to help him stay focus. I’ve personally observe this myself. However, the school does not have the human resources to fully provide this service/accommodation. I want him to have one-on-one in his SKILLS class and all other classes he is assigned. Some elective teachers seem to have a hard time modifying their curriculum for him. I don’t seem to have issues at all with his male teachers so I don’t know if they are just simply passing him because it’s the easiest thing to do or they are actually modifying their curriculums in a way that helps him learn the material and he actually experiences knowledge. I work with my son at home however, I have to make sure I’m not overwhelming him because he is mentally burnt out when he gets home from school. Every other day he talks about some kids in his class that hit the teachers, cuss the teachers, shout and bang. Now he also has his stim issues too but thank God my son is not combative towards his teachers and I pray it stays that way. He knows it’s wrong behavior. So I don’t know how much time his SKILLS teacher spends coaching kids through their emotions verse teaching reading, math and science because I know sometimes it can take a good 15 minutes to get my son to settle down wants he experiences a trigger. His teacher is awesome but she needs more aids in my opinion. There are only two aids in his class and that’s not enough for my student to get the one-on-one he really needs. I need professional services to help me help him experience reasonable progress and momentum in his reading, math and science education. He expresses a desire to work and make money and I want to increase his options by helping him improve in his reading comprehension, math and science but I need professional help to accomplish this. I am a full time caretaker for my husband and I still have a 9 year old that I help with homework too. So getting my son the one-on-one services would be a great help to my son and a very effective way for Harold to experience personal satisfaction in his educational development.
This is an important question. I suggest you ask the teacher, counselor, school psychologist and/or principal. You should be getting special ed. services for your student. It’s why Project 2025 is so worrisome and Texas has a bad track record with special education. At age 17 it is also important to speak with the vocational education teacher to learn about your son’s career options. Is there a program in the school district for students with autism?