Massive layoffs of special education staff as Department of Educatujon

[Anonymous]

I know this isn’t the political forum, but this is important for this board to be aware of.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/special-education-staff-decimated-after-trump-administration-shutdown/story?id=126432474

[Anonymous]

Oops. That should say Education.

[Anonymous]

Not to be political, but can someone tell me if they’re really needed? We have Dept of Education at the federal level, each state has their own education departments and then there’s still very large county education departments as well. Is all of this actually serving students or siphoning money away from them? I think education should be managed at a state level.

[Anonymous]

I think the issue here is setting standards. If there is new research that comes along that could assist a child with disabilities it should be advanced: DOE I think would be the place.

But after the podcast ‘sold a story’ on how the reading industry took advantage of gullible teachers, I lost faith in any one group - besides parents - for monitoring material.

The issue remains the IDEA Act is still an unfunded federal mandate- so not sure anyone could force much on the states.

Feel bad for the folks who lost their positions. Hope they have family in another town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue here is setting standards. If there is new research that comes along that could assist a child with disabilities it should be advanced: DOE I think would be the place.

But after the podcast ‘sold a story’ on how the reading industry took advantage of gullible teachers, I lost faith in any one group - besides parents - for monitoring material.

The issue remains the IDEA Act is still an unfunded federal mandate- so not sure anyone could force much on the states.

Feel bad for the folks who lost their positions. Hope they have family in another town.

Yes the reading industry was my first thought too. Similarly, I’m not sure we’re truly advancing special needs. I feel like teachers need to be supported more instead of being talked down to by ed tech and all these ivory tower phds who haven’t ever taught in classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to be political, but can someone tell me if they’re really needed? We have Dept of Education at the federal level, each state has their own education departments and then there’s still very large county education departments as well. Is all of this actually serving students or siphoning money away from them? I think education should be managed at a state level.

This particular group is responsible for distributing federal special education funding to the states, and making sure they're enforcing the bare minimum laws. This is catastrophic.

[Anonymous]

What did they do to "enforce the bare minimum laws"? Were citizens able to appeal cases to these individuals? Don't the school systems have people that adjudicate these cases? I have never heard of DOE involvement in a child's educational decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The issue remains the IDEA Act is still an unfunded federal mandate- so not sure anyone could force much on the states.

If IDEA is unfunded, then how was this department administering IDEA funds ($15 billion according to the linked ABC article) to the states? How many people do you need to send money to the states?

[Anonymous]

Ruh roh!

Who were those with the rose colored glasses that thought their child was going to get something good out of the changes in Washington.

If you aren't wealthy and what you need cost money, you are on your own.

I know some of you can afford it and maybe live in a state that won't let you down, but spare a thought to the other parents

[Anonymous]

I feel bad for the people at Dept of Ed but I am not sure FCPS follows what they say. Having dealt with FCPS for years- I think they have been allowed to do whatever they want so not sure how this changes anything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for the people at Dept of Ed but I am not sure FCPS follows what they say. Having dealt with FCPS for years- I think they have been allowed to do whatever they want so not sure how this changes anything

I don’t think this will change much for wealthy states and districts, but people in poor, rural, or red states will be hit hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for the people at Dept of Ed but I am not sure FCPS follows what they say. Having dealt with FCPS for years- I think they have been allowed to do whatever they want so not sure how this changes anything

I don’t think this will change much for wealthy states and districts, but people in poor, rural, or red states will be hit hard.

OP here. This is exactly it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to be political, but can someone tell me if they’re really needed? We have Dept of Education at the federal level, each state has their own education departments and then there’s still very large county education departments as well. Is all of this actually serving students or siphoning money away from them? I think education should be managed at a state level.

That would be a nightmare. Some states could have services and others won’t. A child could be left behind if they lived in the wrong state and parent could not afford to move out. It would put strain on the states that do have services

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for the people at Dept of Ed but I am not sure FCPS follows what they say. Having dealt with FCPS for years- I think they have been allowed to do whatever they want so not sure how this changes anything

I don’t think this will change much for wealthy states and districts, but people in poor, rural, or red states will be hit hard.

OP here. This is exactly it.

It's even to the detriment of wealthy states because a lot of the underpinnings for enforcement of IDEA and 504 come from DoEd. I can't tell you how many times I've threatened to file a federal complaint and then used the material from DOEd to buttress my argument with the school team.

They have a great website that explained all aspects of these laws (does it exist still?), and they do a lot of interpretation of regulations. People can write in and ask for interpretations, which then end up carrying the force of law (until someone, perhaps, challenges that interpretation in court). These are called "Dear Colleague" letters or OSEP letters. Look here to see examples of issues that are addressed by these OSEP letters: https://www.wrightslaw.com/info/osep.index.htm

Basically, whatever the federal level does, wealthy states model often. But, moving forward, states will not have a unitary model to follow (or if they do it's likely to be a bad model). This means that kids who move state to state with IEPs will no longer have the same kind of transferability of IEP rights. (And, students move a lot.)

Gutting DoEd and OSEP also guts the info collection mechanism -- how many kids have IEPs, how much money is being spent, how effective are programs, etc. It's analogous to what Trump is doing by firing BLS people -- we can't know the economy is bad if we are not collecting stats about it in a neutral way. We can't know the access to and quality of special education if we don't have data about it.

If we don't have data about it, and we are losing the people who help define what the law means and create systems of complaints, then enforcement of the law becomes extremely difficult for everyone.

It is true, that overall wealthy states are likely to be better off than poor ones, but doing this harms kids and families everywhere.

(And, while it harms families, it really harms moms the most, because moms are the ones by and large who end up having to homeschool, tutor and scaffold kids through school, college and life, and if kids with special needs aren't getting special education at school, then it's moms who tend to fall out of the workforce to compensate for what isn't being provided at school, whether they teach it on their own or spend time driving kids around to private pay therapists and tutors. It also harms society at large, as a less educated special ed population is likely to be able to contribute less in terms of taxes and level of work contribution to society.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ruh roh!

Who were those with the rose colored glasses that thought their child was going to get something good out of the changes in Washington.

If you aren't wealthy and what you need cost money, you are on your own.

I know some of you can afford it and maybe live in a state that won't let you down, but spare a thought to the other parents

Hard to take you seriously after “ruh roh.”