The Trump Administration laid off staff members from the Office of Special Education and the Office of Civil Rights, potentially influencing the abilities for students with disabilities to receive a special education in public schools.
The Department of Education staff cuts cause the University of Rhode Island to struggle to meet Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requirements, according to Adam Moore, an associate professor of special education and director of the URI special education graduate programs.
The act allows children with disabilities to have education in a free, unrestrictive environment, according to Moore. Without special education staff, families can’t file civil rights complaints if their child isn’t obtaining an education due to non-compliance with the law.
Another possibility is moving the act to Human Health Services, turning an education law into a medical issue, according to Moore.
Before the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was enacted in 1975, no law guaranteed children with disabilities access to a public education, according to Moore. Prior to the act, students with disabilities were often sent to hospitals or institutions for schooling, where many faced abuse and neglect.
“We as educators really fight to ensure that a medical model of disability is not where we first go to [when] we think about the social model of how we define disability,” Moore said.
In Rhode Island, children with disabilities went to the Ladd School in Exeter, according to Moore. Children lived, worked and received an education so they could return as contributing members to society. The school began in 1904, remaining open until 1994 when closure was prompted after the school was accused of malpractice, isolation and institutional control by deinstitutionalizers.
Prior to the government shutdown, URI was investigating special education scholarships through a five-year grant of $1.2 million, according to Moore. The grant has not been cut, but the issue is that while OSEP works with Program Director Valerie C. Williams, the program staff need to communicate with one another about reimbursements that could affect scholarships. Every email Moore sent to OSEP regarding funding, remains unanswered due to staff member lay offs, delaying OSEP’s funding approval.
“It’s not like we’ve gotten any kind of formal communication from the government letting us know that OSEP no longer has employees,” Moore said.
Some of the scholarships, like the Robert Noyce Teachers scholarship, include payment for graduate students who want to be special education teachers, according to Moore. The Noyce scholarship covers student tuition for two years as long as they stay at URI. Students have to sign a promissory note stating if they don’t, their funds will be returned to the federal government.
“There’s a massive teacher shortage in special education across the country, including Rhode Island,” Moore said. “We’re really trying to address [this issue] through these types of initiatives.”
The university received notification from the Department of Education and provided a response to the inquiry, according to a statement from Dawn Bergantino, assistant director of communications for the university. The department letter stated that “opening an investigation does not mean that [the Office of Civil Rights] has made a final determination with regards to merits.”
As the University of Rhode Island has stated in previous federal updates, it continues to comply with regulatory requirements and remains committed to its core values, according to Bergantino’s statement. The values include fostering an inclusive community and respecting the rights and dignity of all individuals. The university continues to monitor changes within federal agencies and staffing, as well as their potential impact on higher education and URI.
“[Staff cuts are] an issue that affects every American,” Moore said. “If we don’t pay attention to some of the subtle and not so subtle ways of the deconstruction of this law, we could very well be in a very difficult place in the coming years.”
