AI and IEP

In The Politics of Autism, I write about social services, special education, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 

Ariana Aboulafia at the Center for Democracy and Technology:

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in schools is becoming more commonplace, including the use of generative AI models to develop individualized education programs (IEPs) for disabled students. A recent poll from the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) found that 57% of teachers reported using AI to develop an IEP or 504 plan during the 2024-2025 school year — an 18 point increase from the previous school year. But there are legal concerns with using these tools, including compliance with student privacy laws (like the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)) and disability rights laws (like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)).

This brief provides background information on how AI plays a role in IEP development, highlighting the importance of ensuring that IEPs are properly individualized and accurate for disabled students. It analyzes the benefits and legal risks of using AI in IEP development, and discusses other concerns including accuracy and bias. Finally, it provides recommendations for teachers, school and education administrators, disabled community members, and tool developers, notably:

• Teachers should be mindful of whether their school has an agreement with a particular AI tool vendor — if not, teachers should not input any personally identifiable information into AI tools, and should exercise caution around use in general.
• Schools and school districts should engage in proactive communication to students and parents regarding use of AI tools in IEP development; provide trainings to teachers; create policies for the use of AI tools in IEP development that includes a requirement for human oversight; and consult compliance offices regarding any legal risks of using AI in the IEP development process, including risks under IDEA and FERPA.
• Disability community members should raise awareness to others in the community on the use of AI tools in the IEP development process, educate themselves and others on their rights under statutes like IDEA and FERPA, and take advantage of opportunities to voice concerns over the uses of these tools, including at school board meetings.
• Developers should conduct pre-and-post deployment audits of their tools, prioritize privacy, create policies that prohibit their models from soliciting personally identifiable information from users, ensure disabled people are included in their development process, and be transparent about their data practices.

By incorporating these recommendations, stakeholders can work together to ensure that any use of AI tools in the IEP development process is done in ways that are legally compliant, privacy protective, and respectful of the rights and needs of disabled students.

Read the full report.

Early Start in Jeopardy

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss services for people with disabilities.

Kelly Keck at CalMatters:

This summer, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill, extending tax cuts but slashing billions from Medicaid. In California, federal Medicaid funds sustain the regional centers that coordinate Early Start services for infants and toddlers with — or at risk for — developmental delays.

With California facing a multibillion-dollar deficit, the future of such early interventions looks precarious. Losing federal support means the state must fill the funding gap or scale back, thus putting therapy, progress and hope at risk for countless children and families.

I’ve witnessed what happens when families lose access to care. When speech therapy disappears, a baby’s first words vanish into silence. When physical therapy stops, a toddler’s first steps may never come.

Early Start is not a luxury; it’s a bridge from surviving to thriving. When that connection is frayed, a child’s trajectory is altered, sometimes irreversibly.

The Department of Developmental Services has already warned that its caseloads are surging as staffing shortages worsen. Federal cuts will only amplify this with fewer therapists, longer waitlists and children stranded during the most critical period of their brain development.

Every week’s delay, every family told to “wait and see,” means consequences that may never be undone, developmental windows that will not reopen.

Measles November

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the U of Minnesota:

The number of measles cases nationwide has risen by 42 the in past week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today in its latest update. There are now 1,723 confirmed measles cases this year, reported by 43 jurisdictions.

Eighty-seven percent of measles cases are outbreak-associated, and there have been 45 US outbreaks in 2025. Among measles patients, 92% have been unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccine status. Only 4% have received both doses of measles-containing vaccine.

Last year the United States had 285 measles cases. US measles activity is the highest it has been since measles was declared eliminated in the country in 2000.

Children's Health Defense's Wacko Conference

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

 At The Atlantic, Tom Bartlett reports on the annual conference of Children’s Health Defense, RFK Jr's antivax organization.

They want Kennedy to investigate their belief that the government supposedly colluded with Big Pharma to hide the harms of vaccination. In a session on Saturday afternoon, former Republican Representative Dave Weldon, whose nomination to become CDC director was withdrawn in March amid outcry over his criticism of immunizations, called for the creation of an independent body to investigate vaccine-safety data and report only to Kennedy and President Donald Trump. “If it’s in the hands of the CDC, you’ll never get the answers you need,” he told the crowd. During a session titled “The Enduring Nightmare of COVID mRNA Technology,” Sherri Tenpenny, a veteran anti-vaccine activist who once said that one goal of COVID vaccination was to turn people into “transhumanist cyborgs,” called for the mRNA-based vaccines to be taken off the market: “It’s just the next level of atrocity of how they want to damage us and make us customers for life.” Mark Gorton, the founder of LimeWire who is now president of the MAHA Institute, a think tank, favors stopping routine shots altogether until they’ve undergone further testing. “The medical establishment will scream that plagues will sweep across the land,” he said from the stage. “We need to counter that their plague of vaccine poisoning is already amongst us.”

As noted before, the antivax movment overlaps with right-wing conspiracy theory.

The forces aligned against Kennedy, everyone at the conference seemed to agree, are formidable. Leslie Manookian, the president of the Health Freedom Defense Fund and the author of a recently passed Idaho law that makes vaccine mandates illegal, railed against the “pit of vipers” that Kennedy must deal with in Washington. In a session titled “Sustaining the Promise of Freedom Through Action,” the crowd applauded when Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general, announced that the reporters from The Atlantic and The Washington Post in the room “represent forces who are working toward the enslavement of humanity”—though he allowed that he had “nothing against them.” (As The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, told the Post, “In fact, The Atlantic is not working towards the enslavement of humanity, but I appreciate his concern.”) Ladapo spent most of his speech expounding on his experience with psychotherapy and his relationship with his wife. The day after Brand declined to speak with me and called me a Nazi, Alex Jones posted a two-hour interview in which a bathrobe-clad Brand dismissed the allegations against him as a “governmental and media operation.”

Some Education Staffers Are Back. Don't Get Your Hopes Up.

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential politics. Many posts have discussed Trump's bad record on disability issues. As his words and actions have shown, he despises Americans with disabilities. He told his nephew Fred that severely disabled people -- such as Fred's son -- should "just die."

Project 2025 proposed to turn IDEA into a "no strings" block grant, effectively gutting the law and destroying protections that disability families have long relied upon. During the 2024 race, Trump denied any connection to the project, but now he proclaims it, praising OMB director Russ Vought "of Project 2025 fame."

Trump and Vought are now accomplishing their goal of ravaging the law. Instead of shifting it to a block grant, they tried firing most of the staff who enforce it. 

Cory Turner at NPR:

The deal Congress reached to re-open the federal government requires the Trump administration to reinstate federal workers who were fired in October, including those charged with overseeing the nation's special education laws. But it's not clear how long they'll be back.

As NPR has reported, the Office for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) inside the U.S. Department of Education is the central nervous system for programs that support students with disabilities. It not only offers guidance to families but also oversees state compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

OSERS can't do its job without staff, and, according to a new Education Department filing, the office lost 121 of its 135 employees in the October reduction-in-force. That matters because, while Wednesday's funding agreement will return those workers to "employment status" as of Sept. 30, there appears to be little protecting them after Jan. 30, when that provision expires.

 "We are concerned special education will cease to exist," says Jacqueline Rodriguez, CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities. ... If OSERS stays a shadow of its former self, Rodriguez says, "the only conclusion that we can draw is that it is an intentional dismantling of the entire system of special education."

The Office for Civil Rights has also taken a big hit.

OCR lost 299 staffers after the March reduction-in-force but, because of a lawsuit, most (247) remain on temporary, paid administrative leave. Another 137 were cut in the October reduction-in-force, which has been paused by a federal judge. Under the new government funding agreement, those 137 staffers should be reinstated, at least until Jan. 30.

By the department's own numbers, that means just 62 staffers of OCR's current 446 employees have not received RIF notices. That's roughly 10% of the office's 600-plus headcount in January, when the second Trump administration began.

OCR and OSERS are both mandated by federal law.

"I've got to say, I'm just shocked that they can destroy an entire unit of an organization that's created by statute," said R. Shep Melnick, a professor of American politics at Boston College who has been writing about OCR for decades.

Acting IG at Education

  In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential politics. Many posts have discussed Trump's bad record on disability issues. As his words and actions have shown, he despises Americans with disabilities. He told his nephew Fred that severely disabled people -- such as Fred's son -- should "just die."

Project 2025 proposed to turn IDEA into a "no strings" block grant, effectively gutting the law and destroying protections that disability families have long relied upon. During the 2024 race, Trump denied any connection to the project, but now he proclaims it, praising OMB director Russ Vought "of Project 2025 fame."

Trump and Vought are now accomplishing their goal of ravaging the law. Instead of shifting it to a block grant, they are firing most of the staff who enforce it.  A judge has temporarily paused the attack, but the administration will likely find ways to ignore or circumvent the order.

Sean Michael Newhouse at Government Executive:

The acting inspector general at the Education Department is being replaced for the second time this year, and the watchdog’s new leader is an IG official who seems to have shared social media posts supporting Donald Trump.

Mark Priebe will be the new acting Education IG, according to a 30-day notice sent to Congress on Nov. 7. He has been the director of the Non-Federal Audit Team at the Education IG office since 2017 and previously worked as an auditor at the Housing and Urban Development Department and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to his LinkedIn.

The president is permitted to replace an acting IG, but he is limited to selecting an individual who is currently working in an IG office.

An X account that appears to belong to Priebe occasionally shared messages from other accounts that back Trump including:

The Education IG position opened up after Trump fired Sandra Bruce in January along with 16 other agency watchdogs. Deputy Education IG René Rocque then became acting IG, but she was replaced this summer after notifying Congress that officials were stonewalling an investigation into staff reductions that have halved the department’s workforce.

Nature Medicine: Autistic People Deserve Science-Based Policy

 A number of posts discussed Trump's support for discredited notions about autism. The Sept 22 White House news conference was a firehose of lies. Last month, he posted an unfounded warning about Tylenol.  RFK then tiptoed away from the idea that it definitely causes autism.

From an editorial in Nature Medicine:

Recent public discourse in the USA has been marred by the propagation of claims about the causes of autism that do not reflect current scientific consensus and disregard an extensive research body indicating that there is no single root cause of autism. US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made identifying the causes of autism a focal point1 of his tenure. While understanding the origins of autism is important, the approach must be grounded in rigorous, unbiased science and informed by the lived experiences of people with autism and their families. So far, this standard does not seem to have been met.

Within the first 10 months of the current administration, senior officials have advanced a series of assertions linking autism to childhood vaccines, prenatal acetaminophen2 (Tylenol) use, and even circumcision3. These claims reflect a broader pattern of science communication that prioritizes ideology over evidence, often relying on selective data interpretation4 while disregarding the broader scientific literature. This approach marginalizes experts, advocacy organizations, and — most importantly — people with autism and their families.

The consequences of such rhetoric were immediate and far-reaching. A national poll conducted shortly after a press conference in which Secretary Kennedy and President Trump alleged a causal link between prenatal Tylenol use and autism found that 77% of respondents had been exposed to the claim5. Alarmingly, 60% expressed uncertainty about its validity. This confusion is not benign. Acetaminophen is considered the safest choice of analgesic and antipyretic for use during pregnancy; systematically discouraging its use could endanger maternal and fetal health.

Moreover, the language employed in these public statements risks perpetuating stigma. Framing autism as a condition to be ‘cured’ or attributing blame to parents6 reinforces harmful stereotypes and undermines the dignity of people with autism. It is imperative that public communication about autism be accurate, respectful and reflective of neurodevelopmental diversity.

While understanding autism’s causes remains a legitimate scientific goal, it must not eclipse the urgent need to improve the quality of life for people with autism across their lifespan. The US National Institutes of Health’s Autism Data Science Initiative, launched earlier this year with over $50 million in funding across 13 projects, focuses mainly on early-life exposures and the perceived rise in autism prevalence. Although such efforts are valuable, they must be complemented by research into aging, comorbidities and service delivery. Notably, the 2020 Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee report found that less than 13% of autism research funding was allocated to lifespan issues, services and support — an imbalance that must be urgently addressed.

Equally important is the inclusion of people with autism in shaping the research agenda. Participatory research models that prioritize co-creation and community engagement are more likely to yield findings that translate into meaningful improvements in care and policy. Yet, as of this writing, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee — the only federal advisory body with representation from the autism community — has not publicly announced a convening since the start of the current administration. This absence raises concerns about the inclusivity and legitimacy of recent policy and funding decisions.

Responsibility for restoring scientific integrity in autism research and policy must be shared. Advocacy organizations such as the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, the Autism Society and the Academic Autism Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education have taken commendable steps to counter misinformation and promote community-engaged research. 

References

1. Seitz, A. PBS News https://go.nature.com/49E5GKv (10 April 2025).
2. Hamilton, J. Noguchi, Y. & Greenfieldboyce, N. NPR https://go.nature.com/4qJlEch (22 September 2025).
3. Beaumont, T. & Ungar, L. PBS News https://go.nature.com/3LAfWcE (10 October 2025).
4. FactCheck.org. Annenberg Public Policy Center https://go.nature.com/47nNCTu (3 February 2025).
5. Shutt, J. The Highland County Press https://go.nature.com/4oGeTGn (23 October 2025).
6. Kim, J. NPR https://go.nature.com/4nGKZRB (26 September 2025).

 

Lit Review Undercut Tylenol Accusation

 A number of posts discussed Trump's support for discredited notions about autism The Sept 22 White House news conference was a firehose of lies. Last month, he posted an unfounded warning about Tylenol.  RFK then tiptoed away from the idea that it definitely causes autism.

Medical Xpress:

Existing evidence does not clearly link paracetamol (acetaminophen) use during pregnancy with autism or ADHD in children, finds an in-depth evidence review published by The BMJ today, in direct response to recent announcements around the safety of using paracetamol in pregnancy.

The researchers say confidence in the findings of existing evidence reviews and studies on this topic is low to critically low, and suggest that any apparent effect seen in previous studies may be driven by shared genetic and environmental factors within families.

Regulatory bodies, clinicians, pregnant women, parents, and those affected by autism and ADHD should be informed about the poor quality of the existing reviews and women should be advised to take paracetamol when needed to treat pain and fever in pregnancy, they add.

Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is the recommended treatment for pain and fever in pregnancy and is considered safe by regulatory agencies worldwide.

Existing systematic reviews on this topic vary in quality, and studies that do not adjust for important factors shared by families or parents' health and lifestyle cannot accurately estimate the effects of exposure to paracetamol before birth on neurodevelopment in babies.

To address this uncertainty, researchers carried out an umbrella review (a high-level evidence summary) of systematic reviews to assess the overall quality and validity of existing evidence and the strength of association between paracetamol use during pregnancy and the risks of autism or ADHD in offspring.

...

They conclude, "The current evidence base is insufficient to definitively link in utero exposure to paracetamol with autism and ADHD in childhood. High quality studies that control for familial and unmeasured confounders can help improve evidence on the timing and duration of paracetamol exposure, and for other child neurodevelopmental outcomes."

Literature on Autism and Aging

In The Politics of Autism, I write about the everyday struggles facing autistic people and their families.  The struggles of autistic adults have not received enough scholarly attention.

Mokhwelepa, L.W., Sumbane, G.O. & Ngwenya, M.W. The dynamic trajectory of autistic life and its changing challenges: a scoping review. BMC Psychiatry 25, 769 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-025-07212-5

Abstract

Background

There is a noticeable knowledge vacuum on the ways in which autism interacts with the difficulties associated with aging, even though in recent decades there has been a growing recognition of the different needs and experiences of those on the autistic spectrum. Importantly, experiences across earlier life stages such as youth and young adulthood also influence later outcomes and warrant consideration within this dynamic trajectory, meaning the ongoing and evolving developmental path individuals follow throughout life.

Objectives

This study aimed to review the existing literature on the unique needs, challenges, and experiences of autistic adults as they progress into later stages of life.

Methodology

The scoping review was carried out by following a structure that included defining the research topic, finding pertinent studies, choosing studies, charting data, and ultimately compiling, summarizing, and synthesizing the findings, the scoping review was carried out. PubMed, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect are the databases that were used to perform an exhaustive search of the literature from 2010 to 2023. Studies were screened for inclusion based on predefined criteria.

Results

Despite an initially large dataset, only a limited number of studies directly addressed the intersection of autism and aging in sufficient depth. This review yielded only two themes: (1) Challenges experienced by adults with autism when aging; (2) interventions and support strategies.

Conclusion

The important need for greater comprehension of the relationship between autism and aging was highlighted by this study. It exposed a wide range of difficulties that autistic adults encounter as they age, such as inequalities in healthcare and problems integrating into society. This review will contribute to a deeper understanding by highlighting the evolving challenges, unmet needs, and support mechanisms required by autistic adults as they age, offering insights for research, policy, and practice.

Advocacy Programs for Latino Families

In The Politics of Autism, I write about the experiences of different economic, ethnic and racial groups.   Inequality is a big part of the story. 

Burke, M. M., S. Ramos-Torres, G. H. Espinosa, et al. 2025. “ Testing an Advocacy Program to Improve Service Access Among Latino Families of Autistic Youth: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Autism Research 18, no. 8: 1714–1724. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.70068.

ABSTRACT

Families of transition-aged youth with autism often struggle to access services. Due to systemic barriers, Latino, Spanish-speaking families of autistic youth especially struggle to access services. One way to improve service access is through parent advocacy abilities (i.e., knowledge of adult services, advocacy abilities and comfort, empowerment). To improve parent advocacy abilities and, ultimately, service access, we conducted a randomized controlled trial to test the feasibility and efficacy of an advocacy program: ASISTIR (Apoyando a nueStros hIjo/as con autiSmo obTener servIcios de tRansición; Supporting our Children with Autism to Obtain Transition Services). Of the 30 participants who were retained for analyses, intervention (vs. waitlist-control) group participants demonstrated significant increases in knowledge about adult services, advocacy activities, advocacy skills and comfort, and empowerment. Further, intervention (vs. waitlist-control) group participants demonstrated significantly greater service access. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov: NCT06207149

Summary

• It can be hard to find services for autistic youth.
• There are unique barriers to services for Latino autistic youth.
• To improve access to services, we tested an advocacy program (called ASISTIR).
• The ASISTIR program was comprised of 24 h of instruction about adult services.
• Altogether, 30 families participated in the study.
• Some families were randomized to the intervention group, and some families were randomized to the waitlist-control group.
• Families in the intervention group were significantly more likely to be knowledgeable about adult services, comfortable with advocacy, and empowered.
• Intervention group families also reported greater services.

Vaccines, Autism, and Public Knowledge

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  Trump has long spread antivaccine misinformation. A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

 From the Annenberg Public Policy Center:

No evidence vaccines cause autism: About two-thirds of the public (65%) say it is false to claim that vaccines given to children for diseases like measles, mumps, and rubella cause autism, though that represents a significant decrease from prior years (June 2021-July 2024), when 70-74% of the public agreed it was false to link autism with vaccines. In 2004, the National Academy of Medicine (then named the Institute of Medicine) determined that “the body of epidemiological evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism evidence.” The CDC, on a web page dated Dec. 20, 2024 (accessed Oct. 29), wrote that “studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing ASD” (autism spectrum disorder).

...

No evidence of an autism-thimerosal link: Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in some vaccines since the 1930s, has been the target of unfounded and misleading claims by anti-vaccine advocates, including claims that it is ineffective, a neurotoxin, and may be tied to autism. In its 2004 report, the National Academy of Medicine determined that evidence “favors rejection of a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism.” Numerous studies since have also supported thimerosal’s safety, according to FactCheck.org. Thimerosal has not been in childhood vaccines other than flu vaccines since 2001. In July 2025, Kennedy signed off on recommendations by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to remove thimerosal from U.S. flu vaccines.

Asked about any connection between thimerosal and autism, half of those surveyed (51%) are not sure whether thimerosal increases, decreases, or has no effect on the chances that a person getting a vaccine will develop autism. Over a third (37%) correctly say it has no effect on the chances of developing autism, and 10% say it increases the chances.

Gutting Civil Rights Enforcement

 Center for American Progress:

  In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential politics. Many posts have discussed Trump's bad record on disability issues. As his words and actions have shown, he despises Americans with disabilities. He told his nephew Fred that severely disabled people -- such as Fred's son -- should "just die."

Project 2025 proposed to turn IDEA into a "no strings" block grant, effectively gutting the law and destroying protections that disability families have long relied upon. During the 2024 race, Trump denied any connection to the project, but now he proclaims it, praising OMB director Russ Vought "of Project 2025 fame."

Trump and Vought are now accomplishing their goal of ravaging the law. Instead of shifting it to a block grant, they are firing most of the staff who enforce it.  A judge has temporarily paused the attack, but the administration will likely find ways to ignore or circumvent the order.

Center for American Progress:

The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which provides enforcement of civil rights protections, fielded a historic 22,687 cases, with 37 percent—8,457—relating to disability, which was second only to sex discrimination. The Trump administration attempted to lay off more than 250 OCR employees in March 2025. In April, Victim Rights Law Center, a nonprofit organization, filed a lawsuit against the department and was able to get a preliminary injunction to force the department to bring staff back. In August, the administration utilized the previously mentioned Supreme Court shadow docket decision made in July to obtain a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to finalize the OCR layoffs in October. With approximately 120 employees left, if cases remained consistent with last year, the office would have to manage almost 190 cases per employee. Larger caseloads could   In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential politics. Many posts have discussed Trump's bad record on disability issues. As his words and actions have shown, he despises Americans with disabilities. He told his nephew Fred that severely disabled people -- such as Fred's son -- should "just die."

Project 2025 proposed to turn IDEA into a "no strings" block grant, effectively gutting the law and destroying protections that disability families have long relied upon. During the 2024 race, Trump denied any connection to the project, but now he proclaims it, praising OMB director Russ Vought "of Project 2025 fame."

Trump and Vought are now accomplishing their goal of ravaging the law. Instead of shifting it to a block grant, they are firing most of the staff who enforce it.  A judge has temporarily paused the attack, but the administration will likely find ways to ignore or circumvent the order.

Center for American Progress:

The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which provides enforcement of civil rights protections, fielded a historic 22,687 cases, with 37 percent—8,457—relating to disability, which was second only to sex discrimination. The Trump administration attempted to lay off more than 250 OCR employees in March 2025. In April, Victim Rights Law Center, a nonprofit organization, filed a lawsuit against the department and was able to get a preliminary injunction to force the department to bring staff back. In August, the administration utilized the previously mentioned Supreme Court shadow docket decision made in July to obtain a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to finalize the OCR layoffs in October. With approximately 120 employees left, if cases remained consistent with last year, the office would have to manage almost 190 cases per employee. Larger caseloads could force slowdowns in cases that already can last for years.

Without Federal Oversight, Special Education Will Likely Deteriorate

  In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential politics. Many posts have discussed Trump's bad record on disability issues. As his words and actions have shown, he despises Americans with disabilities. He told his nephew Fred that severely disabled people -- such as Fred's son -- should "just die."

Project 2025 proposed to turn IDEA into a "no strings" block grant, effectively gutting the law and destroying protections that disability families have long relied upon. During the 2024 race, Trump denied any connection to the project, but now he proclaims it, praising OMB director Russ Vought "of Project 2025 fame."

Trump and Vought are now accomplishing their goal of ravaging the law. Instead of shifting it to a block grant, they are firing most of the staff who enforce it.  A judge has temporarily paused the attack, but the administration will likely find ways to ignore or circumvent the order.

Anna Claire Vollers at Stateline:

The court ruling halting the layoffs is likely just a temporary setback as Trump proceeds with his broader mission of closing the federal department. Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon have said their goals are to reduce bureaucracy and return more education responsibilities to the states.

Neither the Department of Education nor the White House, which are operating with fewer communications officers because of the government shutdown, responded to Stateline requests for comment.

Congress has never fully funded special education at 40% per-pupil costs promised to states under IDEA. Funding has fluctuated over the years; in 2024, it was about 10.9%. Federal IDEA funding is expected to continue, though without federal oversight from the Education Department.

Disability rights and education advocates worry that most states don’t have the resources — or, in some cases, the will — to adequately police and protect the rights of students with disabilities.

years have failed to provide adequate special education services, prompting investigation from the feds. Just 19 states meet the requirements for serving students with disabilities from ages 3 through 21, according to the most recent annual review from the Department of Education, released in June.

...
The federal government currently covers less than 12% of the costs of special education services nationwide, leaving state and local governments to foot the rest, according to the National Education Association, a labor union representing 3 million educators nationally. Without federal oversight, critics fear, nobody will hold states and school districts accountable for not spending enough.

In some states, limited state funding means a disproportionate financial burden lands on individual school districts. On average, local districts are responsible for $8,160 per special education student per year, according to a report released last year by education nonprofit Bellwether that studied funding across 24 states.