hugely important and this will be massively felt across the country - ThreadSky

joshtpm.bsky.social • 3 days ago

hugely important and this will be massively felt across the country

Reposted from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The Department of Education, among other things, is what funds special education for children with disabilities.

Trump’s executive order will hurt kids and parents in virtually every school district in the country.

Comments

bettypf.bsky.social•3 days ago

I heard a MAGA special needs teacher express dismay when she found out. Sad, huh?

ljsj.bsky.social•2 days ago

Setting up a fake classroom with little kids in the WH to release this EO about sinking DOE was disgusting. Will they even have IEPs anymore?

mrtoads.bsky.social•3 days ago

Normal human beings don’t make a special effort to be cruel to women and children; sadists and Republicans do.

tracybrisson.bsky.social•3 days ago

Feeling pretty distracted and stressed this evening as the helpless caregiver of 2 sitting ducks in Trump 2.0- a son with special needs & an IDEA funded IEP, and a blind, elderly father who relies on social security.

stewandstage.bsky.social•3 days ago

Hey that's so much. For us Social Security is our hope for anything resembling a life. My son had an IEP every year. Now he gets help from OPWDD in NY. We tell our story. That we can do.

bananapantz.bsky.social•3 days ago

Have they kept that or not?

cyneheard.bsky.social•3 days ago

The money or the compliance? The latter’s already been gutted between the RIFs, political appointees saying stand down in various ways, and today Trump saying that’s under RFK.

The money? No idea. Or when the IDEA funds get disbursed to state and/or local governments.

bananapantz.bsky.social•3 days ago

More the money. But the requirements too. Presumably the law still exists.

cyneheard.bsky.social•3 days ago

The law still exists. I expect you’ll see more litigation and trying to work with state Ed Depts when locals aren’t complying. Disability rights groups will be busy and very critical.

I’m more worried about FY26 money - and whether the GOP tries to make big cuts through the budget - than FY25.

kevinmkruse.bsky.social•3 days ago

They passed it off to RFK Jr which doesn't inspire confidence

bananapantz.bsky.social•3 days ago

Thank you. I haven’t caught up on all my reading yet today.

isomorphism.net•3 days ago

3fecta.bsky.social•3 days ago

Special accommodations permitted now are eating roadkill during lunch and...
No that's it.

arlecchinoswart.bsky.social•3 days ago

How does funding work without legislation? Is Trump now allowed to spend money however he pleases?

conboygorfine.bsky.social•3 days ago

That's for sure!!!!

atticusgf.bsky.social•3 days ago

He's gonna try to de-vaxx all the kids

kevinmkruse.bsky.social•3 days ago

I mean, seriously, his only concern with special needs kids will be using them as props for some anti-vax bullshit

casporleder.bsky.social•3 days ago

It’s the hunt for autism caused by vax. And pump iron in jeans for your ADHD

texasbuckley.bsky.social•3 days ago

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, his aunt, began Special Olympics; his mom Ethel was a huge supporter.

BobbyJr will probably do something awful to destroy it.

mmwritessf.bsky.social•3 days ago

Oh come on, Kevin. I'm sure he'll give them to Elon to man his coming Starship test flights.

ajhart.bsky.social•3 days ago

And for his ‘wellness’ camps

ndndad.bsky.social•3 days ago

I guarantee RFK Jr. has some of shittiest ideas about kids with disabilities you can think of.

billgerdes.bsky.social•3 days ago

If you ate more lean protein you wouldn’t be in a wheelchair son

smullins3000.bsky.social•3 days ago

I'll bet those disabled kids just need a better diet.

jmalkin.bsky.social•3 days ago

It'll impact people whose kids didn't directly use the programs, too. Fewer aides in classes focusing on the kids who need extra attention, meaning they'll take more of the teacher's time.

mj2468.bsky.social•3 days ago

I doubt any of them know how many kids receive services. About 10% of the population has a reading disability, and a lot of those kids will get special education services to close the gap with their peers.

mj2468.bsky.social•3 days ago

When you say educational disabilities, most people think only of kids with an intellectual disability. But special ed also serves kids with learning disabilities, blindness, deafness, ADHD, emotional illnesses, speech impairments, & orthopedic problems.

mj2468.bsky.social•3 days ago

Before IDEA, many kids with disabilities just stayed home, or dropped out due to frustration, and their earnings and independence were far less than their peers for their entire lives.

dfourny.bsky.social•2 days ago

Just waiting for RFKs wacky pronouncement on the causes for Down Syndrome—we’ve already heard his autism spiel. 🙄

jrheisler.bsky.social•3 days ago

And Scrooge said, "if they would rather die, they better go ahead and do it, and decrease the surplus population"

raflw.bsky.social•3 days ago

Do Republican-voting families have fewer special needs kids than the national average? I'm gonna guess that the statistics are pretty evenly random.
Do they currently refuse gov't funded services?
My point being, this is another cruelty that >should< cut across partisan lines. But who tf knows?

medusaswink.bsky.social•3 days ago

No, they just don’t care about us. #Ableism is a whole virtue to these families.

martingeorge.bsky.social•3 days ago

A lot of them can afford to care less, because they get back in tax cuts whatever they might have to spend.

l0rdclippy.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yes and no. My spouse teaches at a public high school in a wealthy district.Richer parents can get extra support for their children outside of school, but there is no replacement for IEPs, 504s, and even simple accommodations.

raflw.bsky.social•3 days ago

It was years ago, so the details are fuzzy, but I remember TV news featuring a few Greater Minnesota families who were suddenly very surprised to learn during Tim Pawlenty's administration that their kids got taxpayer services that could be cut.
Huh.

l0rdclippy.bsky.social•3 days ago

I wish I could laugh -- but kids are going to die because of this. Some poor kid who was getting extra support because they're emotionally fragile is going to decide that nobody cares about them after all when the counselor who'd been supporting them gets fired.

raflw.bsky.social•3 days ago

Oh, I'm not laughing.

I think this (like farm programs being cut, etc) are opportunities to reach out. Sure, we're mad they voted how they did. But some of them can be persuaded that it'll go way better for them with Dems. Worth the effort.

Laughing/Leoparding isn't gonna help win elections.

nclud.bsky.social•3 days ago

Additionally, richer parents are also more likely to have IEPs. They have the time and resources to jump through all the hoops to get them in place for support. The ratio of IEPs to total student body is much higher at wealthy schools. Even outside the data, I know this because it is me.

tracybrisson.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yes. And most of those parents do not realize the impact playing with IDEA funds will have on their kids. Especially in these richer communities with inclusion classrooms with co-teachers and cascading effect on general ed.

You will see a lot of leopards eating face here.

rednecklefty.bsky.social•3 days ago

Tempting to send Greg Gutfeld's home address to everyone in his neighborhood who might have children in special ed programs in their extended family.

mignolio.bsky.social•3 days ago

If it's not legal for Trump to be doing these things, why are people acting like his actions are valid? Seems like ignoring him is the proper course, no? Can you explain why that's not the case?

steve52.bsky.social•2 days ago

Plenty of MAGA assholes have special needs children. Not sure Trump thought this through.

tadams1.bsky.social•3 days ago

Every parent with a child with a learning issue knows the difference between IEP & 504. When their kids start getting screwed (in grade school and college) they're gonna be angry as hell.

mj2468.bsky.social•2 days ago

504 means accommodations - adaptions to the building, extra time to take tests, shortened assignments, copies of notes.

IDEA means educational services-direct specialized instruction in core academics PLUS accommodations.

lbluth.bsky.social•3 days ago

They have already cancelled several grants for students with disabilities in the past month. Who does this serve? This impacts people across party lines and makes everyone's world worse for no reason other than cruelty and greed.

caitbrie.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yes passing it off to the control of Bobby Brainworms is a form of child neglect.

jawhite.bsky.social•3 days ago

Coming down hard on special needs kids is completely consistent with Trump’s Nazi brand.

marty888.bsky.social•3 days ago

Most parents of SpEd kids that have fought the battle to get an IEP for them will stop at almost NOTHING to ensure it is enforced. Hell hath not enough fury to get the drift here. Maybe it's just me.

keithfitzgerald.bsky.social•2 days ago

While we all find this outrageous and cruel, I wouldn't assume that bothers Trump. When he publicly mocked the disabled reporter, Serge Kovaleski, his supporters laughed and cheered. Members of Trump's own family have publicly said that Trump has said people with disabilities should "just die."