ICYMI: As Trump Administration Continues To Gut Education Department, Warren Exposes Harmful Impact to Students with Disabilities

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 60,000 public schools and about 30 million K-12 students were left without a dedicated civil rights investigator due to Trump's cuts at ED.
Warren: “It’s disgraceful that Secretary McMahon is firing the people responsible for protecting our students with disabilities.”
Video of Exchange (YouTube)
Washington, D.C. –U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), in a forum held by Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), “Robbing Our Students’ Futures: The Indefensible Attacks on Public Education,” highlighted the consequences of President Donald Trump and Secretary Linda McMahon’s cuts to the Department of Education (ED) for students with disabilities and their families.
“It’s disgraceful that Secretary McMahon is firing the people responsible for protecting our students with disabilities,”said Senator Warren. “This forum is a valuable opportunity to speak out and stand up against these horrible cuts so we can start building a better future for our nation’s children.”
In the hearing, Senator Warren slammed Secretary McMahon for her broken promise to “make sure that our students with special needs are taken care of.” In March, Secretary McMahon fired half of the staff at ED’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which is responsible for protecting students facing discrimination in school, and closed down 7 out of OCR’s 12 regional offices, including the one in Boston. Nearly half of all OCR complaints involve discrimination against students with disabilities, and following these cuts, OCR has begun dismissing complaints at an unusually high rate.
Dr. Jacqueline Rodriguez, CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities, testified that due to the cuts at OCR, 60,000 public schools and 30 million K-12 students were left without a dedicated civil rights investigator, with OCR dismissing 30% more cases last year than in the previous year. She warned it would be “improbable, if not impossible” for OCR to sufficiently resolve incoming disability discrimination cases with staff cut in half.
Senator Warren also highlighted the story of G, a student with an intellectual disability whose mom filed a complaint with OCR after G was allegedly locked in a padded room at her schoolrepeatedly,despite not posing a danger to herself or others. The Trump administration fired the lawyer assigned to investigate G's case, leaving G without any support. Ms. Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, stressed the importance of making the public aware of the impact of cuts to public education by sharing stories like G's. She described ED as an “opportunity engine” for providing educational oversight and funding for various education programs, which are crucial for students with disabilities.
“We are in this fight because we believe that the future of this nation lies with our children. We speak out, we fight back, and we do not pass budgets that leave the door open for more cuts for the education of our children,”concluded Senator Warren.
Senator Warren launched theSave Our Schoolscampaign in a coordinated effort to fight back against President Trump’s attempts to abolish the Department of Education:
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