Dear Sophia De Lisi,

As a Brandeis alumnus, I urge students, staff, faculty, and alumni to witness how educational supports for students with disabilities are teetering on the edge of a half-century setback. As someone whose family and friends have benefited for decades from academic supports for students with disabilities, the recent dismantling of the Department of Education’s core functions is alarming and demands the Brandeis community’s attention.

Fifty years ago, on November 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), one of the most transformative educational laws in U.S. history. Before IDEA, almost 200,000 people with disabilities were locked in institutions described as “snake pits” that “smelled of death.” 1.75 million students were excluded from school entirely. IDEA, paired with consistent federal oversight and support for states, required states to identify excluded children, removed barriers to accessing curriculum, funded teacher training and technical assistance centers, and established teams and procedures to support individual students. Because of IDEA, we have made monumental strides toward a country that better supports and represents millions of people.

And yet, fifty years later, many school districts still segregate students with disabilities, use mechanical restraints to control “problematic” students—especially Black boys who are also under-identified for services—and divert students with disabilities off diploma tracks. IDEA also does not explicitly address intersecting identities or disparities across race, geography, and socioeconomic status. Historically, those at the Department of Education who help states implement IDEA have filled that gap through cross-office and cross-agency oversight, enforcement, and technical assistance. 

That infrastructure is now being gutted. On November 18, Secretary Linda McMahon buried key Department of Education offices across other agencies, including those overseeing federal K-12 programs, postsecondary education, and Indigenous and international education. She justified the move by claiming in a USA Today op-ed that the Department is “mostly a pass-through for funds.” In reality, she bypassed Congress’s authority by redistributing appropriated funds and scattering offices that are statutorily intended to be housed in the Department of Education, as well as separating offices that oversee billions in special education funding from coordinating with each other.

What the Secretary overlooked are the processes that ensure grants are responsibly managed, the avenues for legal recourse when states violate students’ civil rights, the teacher preparation programs addressing special educator workforce shortages, and the data collection projects that drive policy, research, and enforcement. She also ignored how states like Texas and New York have flouted IDEA by illegally capping special education enrollment and delaying required services for months, problems federal staff had to correct through oversight and technical assistance.

Brandeis students and faculty have long been at the forefront of disability issues, notably through the widely respected Lurie Institute for Disability Policy and its Fellowship programs. However, even at an institution with a strong history of championing causes that promote social justice and inclusivity, disability issues, as highlighted by The Justice and The Hoot, remain too often neglected.

As the semester winds down, I urge students, staff, faculty, and alumni to take a moment to push back against the Administration’s actions. Contact your elected official through this Action Center or by calling the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and tell them that the Senate HELP Committee and House Education and Workforce Committee must hold oversight hearings, bring in Secretary McMahon, and demand that the Administration stop dismantling essential protections for students with disabilities.

Sincerely,

Micah Rothkopf

Micah.rothkopf@gmail.com

(508) 308-1615