What’s Really Happening to the Department of Education—and Why It Matters for Special Education

In 2025, the Trump administration took a bold and controversial step: launching what it calls the “beginning of the end” for the U.S. Department of Education. The Fiscal Year 2026 budget frames this move as a return of power to the states and local communities. The message? The federal government has overstepped, and it’s time to “cut the red tape.”

But behind the slogans and sweeping promises lies a massive restructuring of how federal education funds are distributed—particularly those tied to programs serving our most vulnerable students.

So what does this mean for students with disabilities?

The budget claims to increase funding for IDEA (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), the cornerstone law ensuring students with disabilities receive a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). At first glance, this sounds like good news. But the fine print tells a different story: the increase comes at the cost of eliminating dozens of other programs—programs that provide direct support to parents, train special education teachers, and fund vital services like assistive technology, early intervention, and post-school transition planning.

Now that you’ve seen the high-level changes, let’s go deeper.

Programs That Are Still Funded

• IDEA Part B Grants to States – This is the main funding for special education services in schools. It’s still going.

• Section 611 Services – These are the core services for students with disabilities ages 3–21. Also still funded.

Programs That Were Cut or Merged

These programs used to have their own separate money, but now they’ve either been eliminated or combined into one big pot of money that states can use however they want:

• Early help for babies and toddlers with disabilities (Part C)

• Parent support and training centers

• Teacher training and preparation

• Tools like books, tech, and accessible materials

• Support for job training and employment for students with disabilities

• Legal help and advocacy protections

What States Can Now Decide

Instead of getting separate funding for each of those programs, states now get one big grant. It’s up to the state to decide how much money (if any) goes to each of those areas.

From Funding Reform to Ideological Control: Who Pays the Price?

At first, the restructuring of federal education funding might seem like a bureaucratic reshuffle—dry policy changes buried in a 200-page document. But when you follow the money, a much darker pattern emerges: the dismantling of federally protected services for vulnerable students is not just about “efficiency” or “returning power to the states.” It’s about control.

The new education budget does not just slash dozens of targeted programs—it replaces them with block grants controlled by state governments, many of which are now subject to ideological litmus tests under the banner of so-called “patriotic education.” This isn’t theoretical. It’s explicitly written into the K–12 Simplified Funding Program, which encourages states to use funds to “promote patriotic education,” a term that has become a catch-all for censoring accurate history, marginalizing LGBTQ+ and racial justice curricula, and enforcing conformity to nationalist narratives.

So where does that leave students with disabilities?

It leaves them in a hostage situation.

Special education funds—once protected by federal law and earmarked for specific, evidence-based programs—are now part of a giant “flexible” pool. The rules of that pool are increasingly being shaped by culture war priorities, not student needs. The result? States and districts may choose to fund special education programs only after satisfying the ideological demands of the moment. In short: services for the most marginalized are no longer guaranteed unless they align with political loyalty tests.

Let’s be clear: this is not decentralization. This is weaponization.

It is the strategic erosion of federal protections that were fought for by parents, educators, and disability advocates over decades—and replacing them with a system that rewards compliance with the ruling regime’s values.

This is how authoritarian governance creeps in: not through sweeping declarations, but through budget reallocations, coded language, and the slow but deliberate disempowerment of those most likely to dissent.

If you care about equity, disability rights, public education, or just basic decency, this isn’t the time for passive observation. It’s the time for scrutiny, resistance, and relentless advocacy.

Call to Action: Demand Protections from Ideological Hostage-Taking

We can have a real debate about funding models. We can even talk about flexibility for states. But what we cannot accept is this:

Attaching services for students with disabilities to an ideological purity test.

That is exactly what’s happening under the new “patriotic education” provisions buried inside the Department of Education’s FY2026 budget.

When special education, early intervention, teacher training, and family support programs are lumped into one giant block grant—and then paired with language promoting a political agenda—we are no longer talking about education reform. We are talking about coercion.

If a state must prove its ideological alignment before receiving funding for students with disabilities, then:

• Students are hostages.

• Parents are pawns.

• And public education becomes a tool of political control.

We need to be crystal clear:

✅ Flexibility is acceptable.

❌ Ideological gatekeeping is not

No student—especially those most vulnerable—should be forced to pass an ideological test to receive the services they are legally guaranteed.

This budget doesn’t just change how schools are funded. It changes who gets to matter.

We can’t let that happen.

Some readers may see this critique and think it’s overblown. That we’re reading too much into a funding shift. That “patriotic education” is just vague language. That this budget is about efficiency—not ideology.

But here’s the truth:

This threat is not speculative.

It’s not inferred.

It’s not imagined.

It’s documented—in plain sight.

In my next article, I’ll examine the exact language in Trump’s executive orders on education, including the one quietly referenced in this very budget summary. I’ll also trace its direct connection to Project 2025, the sweeping right-wing plan to overhaul the federal government with ideological loyalty as its cornerstone.

About the Author

Avi Penhollow has worked in public education for over 25 years, serving as a classroom teacher, special education case manager, and curriculum developer. His career spans Title I schools, inclusive education programs, and university-level teacher preparation. He currently supports students with disabilities in California’s public school system and specializes in literacy, equity, and culturally sustaining pedagogy.

Penhollow brings a practitioner’s lens to education policy—grounded not in theory, but in the lived realities of students and families. His work consistently centers those most affected by shifts in law and funding, particularly students with disabilities, multilingual learners, and historically underserved communities.

This article reflects his growing concern that what appears on the surface as a technical funding adjustment is, in fact, part of a broader ideological project. He writes not from partisanship, but from a deep commitment to public education as a cornerstone of democracy—and a conviction that every child deserves protection from political manipulation.