On March 20th, President Trump issued an Executive Order directing the Department of Education to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities."
The Executive Order DOES NOT:
- End disability civil rights laws, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
- End or affect Tennessee students' Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), 504 plans, or other accommodations at school
The U.S. Department of Education is responsible for:
- administering funding for special education and vocational rehabilitation
- enforcing IDEA by ensuring state-, school- and classroom-level compliance
- evaluating and acting upon school-based disability discrimination complaints
- providing technical assistance to states and schools about their responsibilities under IDEA, best practices and new innovations
We don’t know what is going to happen to any of these responsibilities, but what we do know:
- Dispersing special education expertise across multiple departments and agencies will have a negative impact on the education of students with disabilities
- Even a small disruption can have life-long consequences
The U.S. Department of Education was established by Congressional act, and thus, must be dismantled by Congressional act.
What can you do now?
Contact Congress. Tell your federal legislators why special education matters to you, Tennessee students and families. Ask them to protect the rights of students with disabilities to access to a free and appropriate public education.
Here is an easy way to send an email. You can add additional text in the body of the email: https://speak4.app/lp/fn017n92/?ts=1742578053
Or you can call them. Find their phone numbers at: https://458rl1jp.r.us-east-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fwww.congress.gov%2Fmembers%2Ffind-your-member/1/01000195b944048e-d60d5bc6-9b00-493f-a89b-62a2ce486a8f-000000/62Gk7l44wFsx5UqgDBCyar-Q_VE=418