How Proposals to Eliminate U.S. Dept of ED Could Impact People with Disabilities – Mark E. Seifarth

How Proposals to Eliminate U.S. Dept of ED Could Impact People with Disabilities

Mark E. Seifarth

Every two to four years as people are running for state and federal offices, politicians and hopeful politicians put forward ideas for drastic cuts in federal programs under the guise of returning responsibility to the states – of course usually cutting the funding significantly so the programs can no longer be maintained.

While many times this could be a good starting point for productive discussions to improve programs and make the best use of limited tax dollars, currently the U.S. Department of Education is being targeted for complete elimination in written proposals.

When I was in graduate school years ago, some similar proposals were called “The New Federalism” which I saw as simply block granting program responsibilities back to the states and cutting the funding by half to cut the federal budget. As the federal government was in bipartisan hands at the time, program changes were debated at length and changes were made responsibly and not by meat axe.

It is important that people with disabilities and all advocates realize the possible impact on their lives, especially in their formative school and preparing for jobs years.

Very briefly, here are just a few of the programs targeted for elimination or block granting to the states for oversight with I believe greatly reduced funding over time:

• Cuts to free school meals programs
• Eliminates the Head Start program providing comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and families.
• Proposes eliminating the Department of Education and allowing states to opt out of federal programs or standards.
• Programs under the Individuals with Disabilities’ Education Act (IDEA), which provides $14.2 billion in federal money for the education of school-aged children with disabilities, would be mostly converted to “no-strings” block grants to individual states and distributed directly to local education agencies by Health and Human Service’s Administration for Community Living
• Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) supports federal efforts to enforce our laws against discrimination of individuals with disabilities, those assets would be moved to the Department of Justice (DOJ) along with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The OCR at DOJ should be able to enforce civil rights protections only through federal courts and litigation.

As you recall, for vocational rehabilitation, every state dollar is matched with almost four federal dollars (21.3% state funds matches 78.7% federal funds). Without federal match most state rehabilitation programs for education and training for people with disabilities leading to jobs would cease. Generic jobs programs do not have the expertise or resources to support and train folks with significant disabilities for tax-paying employment.

While IDEA has never covered the proposed 40% of the costs of programming for students with disabilities with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), the current federal funding of approximately 14.7% of the costs is critical to help the states support students with disabilities in our schools.

Now is the time for everyone to talk with their state and federal elected officials to educate and inform them of how important these programs are for people with disabilities to live, work, and contribute to their communities. Even though these are only proposals, and some may need Congressional action, now is the time to have your voice heard.

Finally, one last piece of history to remember:

When it was time for me to begin kindergarten, there was one school in the entire county for every student with a disability and I was to go there. My parents would have none of this and my mother met at length with the local school principal. At the end of the meeting, the principal looked at me and said, we have no elevator, he must be able to climb a flight of stairs. So, me and my leg braces clanked up and back down that flight of stairs – and the principal said, Okay, he can come.

If he had said no, I had no recourse as there was no IDEA. I would have not attended my local school, but the one disabled school in the county.

Now is the time to speak out. Let’s not go back decades to where each school district decides if people with disabilities have the same rights as everyone else in our communities.