Overview:
A veteran educator and parent of an autistic son argues that federal cuts and restructuring at the Department of Education threaten special education and IDEA protections, and calls on parents, educators, and advocates to educate themselves, unite, and contact their legislators to protect services for students with disabilities.
I am a veteran educator with over twenty-four years of experience, but even more important, I am a parent first. My dual role has turned me into not only an advocate for my own child, but an advocate for all children with different needs. Learning more about the changes in the Department of Education has once again sounded the alarm in my advocacy spirit.
Here I sit, as a parent-educator in the summer of 2026, relishing what is supposed to be a time of rest, rejuvenation, and reset. As a parent of a child with different needs, I love being able to spend quality time with my son, relinquishing worry about his education, his development, his safety, and his overall well-being. But just as thankful as I am that my son has an incredible paraprofessional who eliminates the majority of these worries during the school year, I know that many parents are not so privileged.
As a parent-educator, I have been blessed to see the inner workings of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) from both inside and outside the process, but I know that many parents are not so privileged. As an educator, I have been blessed to receive training on teaching students with different needs. And as a parent, I have made research on the foundation for my advocacy for my own son, specifically when it comes to students with autism. But I know that many parents are not so privileged.
Raising a Black son with autism comes with an entirely different set of challenges: ones that demand we acknowledge the intersectionality of his ethnicity and gender as a Black male in America. The fact that he has an educator as a parent and two parental advocates in his household, all of these layers contribute to who he is and how we navigate his educational, social, and overall development. But that is just my personal story.
There are so many stories I have encountered in my journey to amplify marginalized voices. All speak to the tremendous “need for educator training that’s both culturally responsive and inclusive of neurodiversity”.
So what can we all do?
Educate Ourselves and Share the Knowledge
Reading articles, attending virtual webinars, joining advocacy organizations, seeking community through social media, and forming coalitions with parents in our schools, in our districts, in our states, and across the nation, are all ways to amplify our collective voices.
I have been able to tap into a network of educators, administrators, specialists, therapists, and advocates in my quest to learn all I can.
We need to encourage others to join our journey and our collective fight!
Unite
We have to eliminate the dangerous mindset of “us versus them.” Parents, teachers, therapists, paraprofessionals, advocates, and everyone with a vested interest must come together in the fight for the rights of students with different needs. We have to unite to amplify our voices for sustainable change.
A Call to Action
Pop quiz: How many times has the federal government fulfilled its original commitment to supply 40 percent of the average per-pupil expenditure to cover the costs of special education?
Answer: Never.
How long will we sit back and watch the federal government make cuts and changes to essential programs for our students with different needs, knowing they have never followed through on previous promises to fund services for our most vulnerable students?
Answer the call from organizations like The Educator’s Room. Read their articles. Watch their webinars. Research The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Research Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). The webinar Special Education Under Threat: What the Decisions from the Department of Education Mean for Parents, Practitioners, and Students was my encouragement to tag my legislators, and I highly encourage everyone to watch the playback on YouTube.
Start by answering the call from organizations like The Educator’s Room. Their articles and webinars are a strong place to begin. From there, research the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). Watching the webinar Special Education Under Threat: What the Decisions from the Department of Education Mean for Us is what moved me to tag my legislators, and I encourage everyone to find the playback on YouTube.
Call or Write Your Local Legislators
As a parent, educator, advocate, and tax-paying citizen, let this article be the catalyst for the much-needed call to action. The recent changes in the Department of Education have the potential to set back decades of progress that advocates have been fighting for since long before the inception of The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA), now known as IDEA (see the Department of Education’s official history of IDEA at sites.ed.gov/idea/IDEA-History).
In the summer of 2026, as I look into the beautiful brown eyes of my son, I would be remiss not to answer the call. This fight belongs to all of us as parents, educators, advocates, and citizens who believe that every child deserves a free and appropriate public education, regardless of what Washington decides. I am tagging my local legislators, and I am asking you to do the same. Our children cannot wait.
- Senator Dave Cortese, already a special education advocate in the State of California
- John Garamendi, who represents my hometown of Vallejo, California
- Mike Thompson, who represents my home county of Solano County
- Mark DeSaulnier, who represents the county where I work and where the majority of my students live
