69传媒 with disabilities are among the K-12 populations most likely to feel the impacts if some of President-elect Trump鈥檚 most radical and sweeping proposals gain traction.
The bulk of K-12 funding and policymaking happens at the state and local level鈥攂ut special education is an exception, thanks to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which turns 50 next year.
Under IDEA, students with disabilities have a federal right to a free appropriate public education. If schools deprive them of that right, parents can file complaints with their state or the federal government鈥攕pecifically the U.S. Education Department鈥檚 office for civil rights.
The federal government also supplies billions of dollars a year for K-12 districts to spend on the nation鈥檚 7.5 million K-12 students with disabilities. Paying for the services these students need can be several orders of magnitude more expensive than the average cost of educating a traditional student.
The broad outlines of plans and proposals Trump has shared so far include sweeping efforts to cut spending, roll back civil rights protections, and shrink the federal bureaucracy.
But many of Trump鈥檚 most radical education proposals contain contradictions or lack key details that experts say will have to be worked out before they can move forward.
In order to eliminate or shrink the U.S. Department of Education, for instance, policymakers would need to more clearly decide whether the department鈥檚 functions would move to other agencies or cease altogether.
Even once lawmakers iron out policy details, passing legislation won鈥檛 always be a cinch, even with Republicans controlling majorities in both chambers of Congress. Some bills that aren鈥檛 related to the federal budget would require a handful of Democratic senators to side with the Republican majority, which is far from a sure bet. And the razor-thin GOP majority in the House of Representatives would require Republicans to be almost entirely unified in order to pass bills through that chamber.
Those are the logistical challenges Trump and his party face. But what would the consequences be for special education if they achieve their policy goals? Education Week asked five of the nation鈥檚 leading experts to weigh in:
- Meghan Burke, a professor of special education at Vanderbilt University
- Betsey Helfrich, a special education lawyer representing districts in Kansas and Missouri
- JD Hsin, an assistant professor of education and civil rights law at the University of Alabama School of Law
- Tammy Kolbe, a principal researcher for the American Institutes for Research
- Julia Martin, a legislative director for the Bruman Group, an education law firm based in Washington that represents states and school districts
- Nate Stevenson, an associate professor of special education at Kent State University
Some details aren鈥檛 yet clear, but here are the possibilities worth contemplating鈥攁nd a few that are highly unlikely.
IEPs and IDEA are most likely here to stay
Trump didn鈥檛 mention IDEA or students with disabilities at all during his 2024 presidential campaign. And some of the authors of Project 2025鈥攖he extensive policy document circulated earlier this year by prominent conservatives to guide the next Republican president鈥攈ave said explicitly in recent days that their proposed policies 鈥渨ould not touch鈥� individualized education programs, the core document spelling out each child鈥檚 supports and academic learning goals, or interfere with the federal rights students with disabilities have had for half a century under IDEA.
But that hasn鈥檛 stopped some users on social media from circulating worries that Trump鈥檚 proposals, if enacted, would spell the end of IEPs for students. There鈥檚 currently no evidence to support those claims.
Even if Trump wanted to upend core features of special education like the right to due process or the requirement for districts to work with parents on IEPs for children with disabilities, his administration would have to do so by pushing Congress to take up the protracted and messy process of reauthorizing IDEA for the first time in more than 20 years, or repealing it altogether.
Meanwhile, eliminating the U.S. Department of Education wouldn鈥檛 erase federal protections for students with disabilities. IDEA is completely separate from the existence of the agency鈥攊n fact, it predates it鈥攁nd would continue to serve as the foundation for special education law nationwide no matter which agency were enforcing those policies.
States and districts could face pressure to step up investments
Project 2025 recommends converting IDEA funding, currently totaling $13 billion a year, to block grants that go directly to local school districts.
That would mark a significant departure from the current approach, in which the federal government allocates IDEA funds to states through a complex formula, and then requires states to use the same formula to allocate those funds to districts.
It鈥檚 not yet clear exactly how this change would work, and how different the funding amounts would be. But the change, coupled with widely circulated proposals to slash federal spending across the government, could reduce the amount of federal support districts get to help fund special education services.
Granted, schools are accustomed to getting less from the government than needed to cover the cost of special education services. Congress promised when passing IDEA that districts would eventually get an annual federal allocation totaling 40 percent of the costs they incur to provide extra services to students with disabilities beyond the traditional per-pupil cost of providing instruction. But Congress has never come close to meeting that goal.
Even so, many school districts perennially have to cut vital and well-liked programs to make room in the budget for the special education expenses they鈥檙e legally required to provide. State funding support for special education varies widely.
An even smaller set of dollars from the federal government would exacerbate these challenges, researchers say.
Under-the-radar functions like research and technical assistance could suffer
Special education is complicated. The U.S. Department of Education currently runs information centers in nearly every state that educate parents on how the process works, what their rights are, and how they can collaborate with school districts to pursue additional supports for their children.
The department also has a research arm that supplies funding for ambitious investigations of new instructional approaches and technology tools. Many special education professionals turn to evidence-based practices for guidance on improving their work with students.
These aren鈥檛 the flashiest functions of the U.S. Department of Education, which first became an independent cabinet-level agency in 1980. But close followers of special education worry that those line items would be among the first to go if appropriators in Congress follow through on Trump鈥檚 desire for major cuts.
Pursuing legal challenges over special education issues could get harder or take longer
The U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 office for civil rights currently adjudicates complaints in which parents claim that school districts violated their child鈥檚 rights to special education services. That office has carried out that mission under administrations of both parties; at least two investigations that began during the Trump administration were resolved during the Biden administration.
Project 2025 suggests moving the office to the U.S. Department of Justice, arguing that it makes sense to bring civil rights enforcement under one umbrella rather than spreading it out across multiple agencies. It also proposes moving the Education Department鈥檚 office of special education programs under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Some experts worry that the Justice Department wouldn鈥檛 have the staffing or the expertise necessary to pick up special education enforcement responsibilities. And separating the Education Department鈥檚 office for civil rights from the special education office could pose an obstacle for their longstanding collaboration.
National attention on special education could open the door to positive change
Special education experts, and families themselves, believe the nation鈥檚 special education systems could be vastly improved in a variety of ways, from more robust funding to more efforts to expand the workforce of qualified special education professionals.
Some experts see upcoming fights over federal education policy as an opportunity to float ideas for making existing special education policies stronger and more equitable.
Researchers who study special education finance want the formula governing federal aid for special education to be reworked and updated so that some states and districts aren鈥檛 seeing disproportionately less funding than others.
Meanwhile, two key federal policies pertaining to special education haven鈥檛 been revisited or updated in decades. IDEA鈥檚 last reauthorization was in 2004. And the education regulations for Section 504, which confers civil rights protections to an even larger number of students with a wide range of disabilities, haven鈥檛 been updated since their inception in 1977.
A lot has changed since lawmakers and regulators drafted those policies鈥攖echnology has advanced, and diagnoses have grown more common and more complex. The pandemic has deepened students鈥� needs and reinforced the urgency of more sophisticated support for struggling students.
