Cuts to federal Department of Education could be devastating to special education

Dear Editor,

When I campaigned for a seat on the Lakeland Central School District school board three years ago, special needs programs were central to community discussions.

Parents, teachers and advocates repeatedly voiced concerns about support for students with disabilities - from funding for classroom aides to specialized instruction. Many highlighted needs for speech and occupational therapy, adaptive technology, and staffed teams to implement Individualized Education Programs (IEP) effectively.

Families emphasized the critical nature of early intervention services for children with developmental delays, inclusive education initiatives, transportation for mobility-challenged students, extended school-year programs, and behavioral intervention for children with autism. Parents shared personal struggles for resources that should have been guaranteed: fighting for one-on-one aides for nonverbal children, battling for sensory-friendly classrooms, and frustrations over long evaluation wait times. Our community valued these services and recognized their necessity.

Now, with the roll-out of current Washington policies, these programs face dismantling, leaving vulnerable students without support. I urge anyone concerned to investigate the impacts of slashing the Department of Education by half (with promises of complete shutdown) on districts nationwide. The consequences are catastrophic.

Federal oversight ensuring IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) protections is being gutted. Special education funding faces severe cuts, directly impacting IEPs, therapies, technology and classroom aides, as most districts depend on federal support. For context, approximately 21% of Westchester County K-12 students rely on these services (above the 15% national average). With funding cuts, schools must cut or limit services, causing students to fall behind or be completely neglected.

Losing federal oversight also undermines discrimination monitoring and civil rights protection, leaving parents with fewer legal options to advocate for their children, deepening the inequality that IDEA was meant to prevent.

Most concerning is that many in our community support these measures, rallying around calls to gut the Department or pushing to "pull federal funding!" over inclusion programs, while simultaneously depending on both. They're supporting the dismantling of the very institution that ensures IEP enforcement, provides funding for therapies and holds schools accountable.

This isn't budget trimming - it's abandoning our most vulnerable students, reversing decades of progress and depriving millions of children of resources they deserve. The impact is immediate and devastating, threatening to undo years of advancement in educational equity and leaving countless children without the support they need to succeed academically and developmentally.

-Joseph Ascanio, previous candidate for the Lakeland school board