SACRAMENTO, CA – Disability Rights California has denounced the Trump administration’s decision to lay off a large number of Department of Education workers responsible for administering special education funding, guidance and monitoring under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The layoffs took effect Oct. 13 and were first reported by NPR.
As an agency dedicated to protecting and advocating for the rights of Californians with disabilities, Disability Rights California expressed alarm over what it described as the illegal termination of staff within the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) and the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).
Despite the Trump administration and Education Secretary Linda McMahon explicitly stating their goal of dismantling the Department of Education, they had promised to preserve funding for programs serving students with disabilities.
“What these shock layoffs do, in a pattern well established by this administration’s actions since taking office, is destroy these programs without having to explicitly challenge the civil rights and laws and protections that have been in place for decades,” Disability Rights California Director of Communications Sam Mickens said.
“By eliminating nearly all of the staff who run these programs without any clear plan to shift the administration of IDEA funding elsewhere, they functionally and sneakily dismantle them by removing capacity for oversight or distribution of funds.”
Roughly 827,000 of California’s 6 million K-12 students are students with disabilities, accounting for about 14% of the state’s total student population.
The layoffs affect direct federal grants that support children with disabilities’ right to participate in public school classrooms through Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), community-led groups, parent and family resources, and teacher education and training.
The same round of layoffs also extends to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which enforces anti-discrimination laws and investigates related claims.
“The domino effect of the gutting of these agencies may mean that special education programs that previously ran steadily would have to essentially lobby the California Department of Education for their funding in competition with other public goods, fighting anew for the civil rights protections and supports that have been enshrined in law for decades,” Disability Rights California said in a statement.
“Firing those who ensure access to justice in education is not cost-cutting — it is abdication,” said Lauren-Ashley Mendez, associate managing attorney of DRC’s Youth Practice Group. “Our country cannot move forward on equity, inclusion or civil rights if we undercut or dismantle the very offices charged with defending them.”
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Categories: Breaking News Education State of California Tags: Department of Education Disability Rights California IDEA Linda McMahon Office for Civil Rights Special Education Trump Administration