MAC Strongly Condemns Layoffs at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
Over the last ten months, we have issued statement after statement in defense of the education rights of children and families. Today, as the federal administration dismantles yet another essential safeguard for children with disabilities — the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services — we again affirm to children and families: you are not alone. Massachusetts Advocates for Children will continue to fight for inclusion and equity in education as we have throughout our history.
The U.S. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services has long been key to upholding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the backbone of the nation’s special education system and whose history MAC is proud to have played a role in shaping. On Friday, October 10th, this essential office was decimated and nearly all staff laid off. Without the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, there is no federal oversight that ensures states uphold the rights of disabled students to a free and appropriate public education and no assurance that billions in IDEA funding will be properly distributed. Here in Massachusetts, our state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education relies on the U.S. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services for guidance and monitoring to hold local school districts accountable when they fail to fulfill their obligations to students with disabilities.
The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services also holds our state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education accountable. At the time of last week’s layoffs, the agency was nearing completion of a federal review started in January based on findings of noncompliance in multiple areas. What does all of this mean for our families? With the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services effectively shuttered, families will face school systems that operate with even fewer consequences when they illegally deny services, exclude students based on their disability, or otherwise ignore the law.
MAC was founded on the principle that the law should be a tool for justice — that equity in education and inclusion in disability are worth fighting for. From our earliest advocacy that helped shape the nation’s first special education laws, which were the blueprint for the federal IDEA, to our leadership today, we know that strong laws alone are not enough. Sustained advocacy, vigilant enforcement, and community solidarity are essential to ensure every child receives the services and supports to which they are entitled and upon which they rely to prepare them for adult life after high school.
More than ever, MAC’s Helpline is available as a critical tool both for supporting families as they advocate for their children and as a way for our team to track discrimination, legal violations, and patterns across the state as we continue our advocacy for education equity. We will fight even harder with our incredible community of families, youth, advocates, educators, and policymakers to ensure that school districts uphold — and our state enforces — the laws that protect disabled students. We choose to turn this moment into renewed determination to build a future where every disabled child gets what they need to thrive in school regardless of race, family income, language, culture, or identity.