In The Politics of Autism, I write about social services, special education and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 7.5 million children 3 to 21 years old received services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in AY 2022-23.
About 980,000 of them were autistic, up from 498,000 in 2012-13.
The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act is federal law. Funding for it, and the law itself, would not be eliminated through an executive action eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, according to the School Superintendents Association. Michigan schools received about $460 million in federal funding for special education in 2024, about 15% of the funding for special education services, according to the Michigan League for Public Policy.
Molly Macek, director of education policy for The Mackinac Center For Public Policy, a research organization in favor of limited government, said funding for special education programs currently funded through the federal department could just be moved elsewhere.
"The funds for the programs that are currently funded through the federal Department of Education, those may still be available," she said. "We are thinking that those might be allocated through different departments, through a restructuring. So the impact might not be as great as some are predicting."
But advocates like Lipsitt have also expressed concern around the future of the Office For Civil Rights within the U.S. Department of Education, which investigates allegations of civil rights violations, including violations of rights entitled to students with disabilities, in publicly funded schools. In Michigan alone, the Office for Civil Rights shows multiple pending cases under a range of complaints such as denial of benefits, restraint and seclusion, discipline, service animal violations and more.
In fact, a major Office For Civil Rights investigation over a state failure to educate students with disabilities during the pandemic has yet to be resolved. Eckner said that case is particularly important for students with disabilities and advocates were hoping to get clarity — and possibly services to help students with disabilities who struggled in the pandemic — soon.
"Now it's a black hole," she wrote.
According to a recent report from The New York Times, employees in the civil rights office of the Department of Education were warned of potential cuts pushed by Trump's administration.
OCR can enforce Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act but not IDEA.
