All articles tagged with #idea
Fifty years after the signing of the law that established special education rights for children with disabilities, concerns are rising that recent federal staff cuts and policy shifts under the Trump administration threaten to undermine these protections and revert to a pre-1975 era of discrimination and exclusion.
The US Department of Education has conducted mass layoffs affecting special education staff, risking the disruption of services for children with disabilities and the enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Critics argue that these cuts undermine the department's ability to support vulnerable students, despite assurances from Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a deaf student, Miguel Luna Perez, who alleged that his Michigan school district failed to provide him with an adequate education. The court unanimously decided that Perez could pursue an Americans With Disabilities Act claim against the Sturgis Public School District, even though he was also seeking help under another federal program, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The court said that nothing in IDEA “bars his way” from an ADA lawsuit, and that answering the question “holds consequences not just for Mr. Perez but for a great many children with disabilities and their parents.”