If you are wondering about disability services for your child, you’re not alone.
Warren County school administrators have adopted a wait-and-see as the Trump Administration sets about dismantling the US Department of Education (DoE) , the main source of Special Education funding to public schools.
One-sixth of all students in the Warren County school district—1,006 kids, to be exact—are receiving special services in some form or degree, Dr Candice Willmore, director of Special Education, reported in an interview recording last week at McMinnville Public Radio 91.3-WCPI.
The $2 million bill for those services, over above what is allotted to the regular education program, is covered by the US Department of Education under the terms of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), originally passed by Congress and signed into law by President Gerald Ford in 1975.
In 2024 DoE sent $15.5 billion in taxpayer money to local school districts to fund special ed, although that figure falls far short of the actual cost of providing the specialized resources such as intensive, individual tutoring and personal care and mobility.
Trump has not indicated he would abolish or reduce the IDEA funding, but he’s also pushing for up to $10 billion in tax credits for private education with vouchers and “education freedom” alternatives to the traditional public schools. Education experts have expressed concern that the privatization drive could divert finite tax dollars away from programs like special ed.
Congress created DoE, and Trump may have to convince a paper-thin Republican majority in the House of Representatives to abolish the agency. Meanwhile, he proposes to parcel out the Department’s functions to other federal departments.
Under his plan, IDEA funding and management would be handed off to the Department of Health and Human Services headed by vaccine critic Robert F Kennedy Jr. Enforcement of disability rights, historically served by the DoE’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), would go the Department of Justice.
“I would hate to think the dismantling of [the Department of Education] would take away” from support for students with disabilities, Chris Cope, chair of the Warren County School Board, said late last week as education leaders were searching for answers about future federal involvement in special ed.
“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to hand it off to another agency,” he argued, pointing to the loss of accumulated experience and expertise.
“if you show me a cost savings, I’d be all for it.” But in the present cloud of uncertainty, little if anything can be predicted with confidence, and important questions remain unanswered, Cope observed.
“I would really like more information and what the outcome will be.”
Assessing the nationwide anxiety over special ed funding, USA Today reporter Kayla Jimenez wrote March 22: “President Donald Trump’s Thursday executive order dismantling the US Department of Education leaves wide open questions about whether the legal rights of students with disabilities will be protected.”
Jimenez adds in her article: “Trump said Thursday at the White House that resources for student with disabilities and special needs ‘will be full preserved’ and those responsibilities traditionally handled by the Education Department would be transferred to staffers at another federal agency.”
But as of last weekend, the White House had issued no information on the level of future funding for students with disabilities, or about any changes in how eligibility will be determined or the services administered or for how long.
“You’ll know when we know” was a familiar refrain when Willmore and other local school leaders spoke in the WCPI interview recording.
Joining her in the half-hour discussion were Dr Grant Swallows, director of Warren County schools; Dr Shea Panter, director of the system’s Federal programs division; and Sarah Cantrell, media and communications manager for the school district.
The program will air as part of WCPI;s weekly INSIGHTS series today and Saturday at 9 a.m. both days.
