麻豆精品

Education is at a Crossroads: Help Us Illuminate the Path Forward.听

President-elect Donald Trump鈥檚 proposal to dismantle the federal Department of Education 鈥� and the impact it would have on the nation鈥檚 special education teacher shortage 鈥� was hotly debated at a public briefing in Washington, D.C. Friday morning.

Some panelists argued the move 鈥斕齦ong a goal of conservatives 鈥斕� would be disastrous while others testified it would be largely symbolic.听

鈥淭he elimination of the Department Of Education would do significant harm to the teacher shortage and particularly for our students with disabilities,鈥� testified Tuan Nguyen, an associate professor at the University of Missouri whose team runs one of the only on teacher shortages. 

鈥淭he Department Of Education is largely responsible for making sure we follow the laws and to divest funds, and if we don鈥檛 have a Department of Education to oversee what we鈥檙e doing 鈥� we鈥檙e going to have a free-for-all in terms of who we鈥檙e going to put in the classroom,鈥� Nguyen added.

Fellow panelist Eric Hanushek, a senior fellow at Stanford University鈥檚 Hoover Institution had another take: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that eliminating the Department of Education would do much.鈥�

While he鈥檚 concerned it might jeopardize the collection of data and funding of research, ultimately Hanushek said the department is largely responsible for dispersing funds, a role another department could take on. 

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 largely a political statement,鈥� he added.

Jessica Levin, litigation director at the disagreed. 鈥淭he DOE is not just a pass-through [of funds],鈥� she said. 鈥淭he DOE has expertise in the complicated distribution of those funds and the enforcement of the civil rights guarantees that go along with them.鈥�

She added that 鈥渆liminating it would be not just on a practical level extremely harmful but part of an attack on institutions that protect civil rights in this country,鈥� making it a 鈥渄angerous proposal both on a practical and symbolic level.鈥�

Both state and federal governments are responsible for ensuring that the rights of students with disabilities are met through the The law, initially passed in 1974 but amended and renamed in 1990, proposed that federal funding would cover 40% of the average costs of special education, a directive that has yet to be met in the 50 years since. Experts noted that when special education isn鈥檛 fully funded, district leaders are forced to reallocate money from elsewhere, ultimately harming all students.

The federal held Friday鈥檚 briefing to better understand the impact of teacher shortages on students with disabilities nationwide. A final report on their findings is anticipated in fall 2025, Stephen Gilchrist, the lead commissioner on the report, told 麻豆精品 before the briefing.

鈥淗aving been involved with some of this in my own home state of South Carolina, we’ve seen many issues where students who were entitled to these federal accommodations were not receiving them at all in school districts,鈥� Gilchrist said, a dilemma he noted is only worsened by teacher shortages.

An appointee from Trump鈥檚 first presidency, Gilchrist expressed optimism that the incoming administration will help lawmakers 鈥渢hink differently about how 鈥� we deliver education to students in America 鈥� without there being such a bureaucratic process.鈥�

His observations and the debate at the briefing over the education department鈥檚 fate comes amid a firestorm over a series of controversial Trump appointees this week. Trump has yet to name his education secretary and it鈥檚 unclear whether what critics see makes the department鈥檚 possible demise more likely.

Friday鈥檚 briefing focused on a persistent problem in K-12 education 鈥� the shortage of special education teachers 鈥� that was exacerbated by COVID. As of October 2023, of public schools said they were not fully staffed in special education, and 51% reported having to move teachers around to fill a variety of vacancies. 

In 2024, 72% of public schools with special education vacancies struggled to fill the position with a fully certified teacher, according to Brittany Patrick, senior policy analyst on education at the National Education Association, the nation鈥檚 largest teachers union.

That being said, there is a lack of specific and reliable data, according to Nguyen, who noted that while almost every state has indicated shortages, there鈥檚 no information on the magnitude. 鈥淜nowing there鈥檚 a shortage is not particularly helpful if we don鈥檛 know the extent of the problem,鈥� he said.

In the face of these vacancies, some states have issued thousands of provisional and emergency licenses, filled positions with substitute teachers, lowered teaching requirements, or sent the National Guard into classrooms, all of which means students are being instructed by under-qualified teachers, Nguyen argued.

Panelists across the spectrum noted the particularly challenging circumstances in which special education teachers currently work, marked by low pay, large caseloads and class sizes, inadequate support and political divisiveness 鈥� all of which appear to be driving them out of the classroom. At the same time, there is a dearth of new educators in the pipelines. 

Together this means that special education students don鈥檛 receive the services they鈥檙e entitled to, 鈥渁 pervasive issue, exacerbated by decreased professionalization and the mental health effects of COVID,鈥� said Amanda Levin Mazin, senior lecturer at Columbia University鈥檚 Teachers College. Even pre-pandemic, a number of these students were falling

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 麻豆精品 Newsletter