Last week the US Supreme Court, without any explanation, authorized the Trump Administration, to move forward with massive cuts to the Department of Education, laying off 1,400 employees. According to the White House, the lay offs are a first step in a plan to return education authority to the states.

The Department of Ed layoffs will have serious negative effects upon students with disabilities. The director of the National Center for Learning Disabilities stated that “this unprecedented move will severely hamper the department’s ability to do its essential functions like safeguarding the civil rights of students with disabilities.”

The Department of Ed cuts have already impacted civil rights investigations. The Department’s Office for Civil Rights handles disability discrimination complaints in schools. Seven of twelve of the civil rights offices have already been closed. According to another expert, “school districts will be further emboldened to violate the rights of students with disabilities… knowing that the Department of Education has no staff to hold them accountable.”

There may be even greater and more disturbing changes ahead. President Trump has frequently stated that he wants to shut down the Department of Education entirely and move special education oversight to the Department of Health and Human Services.

If that were to happen HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the autism conspiracy and anti-vaccine guy himself, would be in charge of special education. Not exactly something that will enable members of the disabled community to sleep well at night!

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the cornerstone legislation that has yielded all of the advances that disabled individuals have made for the last several decades. There are 7.5 million students covered by the IDEA. The potential shift of IDEA administration to HHS has disability and special ed advocates up in arms. More than a dozen former Department of Education officials who worked with the IDEA under both Republican and Democratic administrations wrote to Congress urging legislators to maintain IDEA administration in the Department of Ed.

The potential move of IDEA administration to HHS is likely illegal, but when has that stopped the Trump Administration?

Further developments at the Department of Education and with IDEA need to be closely monitored by all stakeholders in the disabled community.