Dismantling the Department of Education will strip resources from disabled children, parents and advocates say

With President Donald Trump signing an executive order kicking off the process of eliminating the Department of Education, parents of disabled children fear they will lose federal protection and enforcement of their children’s educational needs.

Maribel Gardea spent years trying to convince Texas’ San Antonio Public Schools that her 14-year-old son, who has cerebral palsy and is non-verbal, needed an eye gaze device in the classroom. She sat in many meetings with staff members, including the district’s technology expert, pleading for the device that would allow her son to communicate through eye movements instead of using a mouse or keyboard. The district remained unconvinced until she invoked the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, known as IDEA, she said. The federal law, enforced by the US Department of Education, guarantees free public education for disabled children and protects Individualized Education Programs, which are tailored to their unique needs. Last year, the district finally purchased the eye gaze device, she said, and staff began working closely with her son as he used it. On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order kicking off the process of eliminating the Department of Education – a move that could have potential consequences for parents like Gardea. While entirely shuttering the department would require an act of Congress, the president directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities,” the executive order reads.