Take action to protect essential services for students with disabilities in your community today.

On June 16, as many children were enjoying their first day of summer break, Linda McMahon took yet another wrecking ball to the Department of Education. In a move that sent shockwaves through the public school ecosystem, it was announced that both the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) and the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) will be moved out of the Department of Education - threatening the education of 10.25 million children who rely on an IEP or 504 Plan for their education.

Patients and Criminals or Students and Learners?

The passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1975, and the organizing work done both before and after, guaranteed that kids with disabilities would be treated as the students we know that they are, and not people to be ‘fixed’ (known as the medical model of disability). With this move, OSERS will be moved to the Department of Health and Human Services - currently led by RFK Jr. - and indicates a return to the medical deficit model of care. Instead of seeing students, Secretary McMahon sees our children as patients.

Simultaneously, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which has long served as the federal avenue to defending civil rights through investigations and complaints, is moving to the Department of Justice. Moving this critical work to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is overseen by the Attorney General and is responsible for overseeing federal prisons, is another move that shows that this administration sees our children as criminals.

But here’s what we know. These children, our students, are amazing and talented kids who are capable of achieving great things. When they show up to school, children deserve to be seen as the learners that they are. They deserve to have their rights protected, to have the supports that they need, to thrive and succeed in their public school.

We can stop this

The good news is that Congress has the ability to stop this overreach of power, and allocate the critical funding for IDEA that our schools need. Congress has a chance to pass legislation that stops this move and returns the programs that have been removed from ED back to their rightful place and ALSO increase funding for special education.

Send a letter directly to your Member of Congress now and let them know that these moves are unacceptable, illegal, and that they must act now to ensure no child loses their civil rights or their right to education, and receives the education that they truly deserve.