Pepper Stetler on the threat to US special education

Is the current dismantling of special education a continuation of an historic trend?

Over in The Atlantic for 1 November 2025, Pepper Stetler published an essay examining the current political activities regarding special education the US from the perspective of a well-informed and savvy parent. In “The Slow Death of Special Education: The government has abandoned its commitment to an equitable education for all children—if it ever had one,” In her article, Ms. Stetler recounts the gestation and birth of modern special education in the US, describing predecessor laws and how politicians resisted them, especially in providing funding for them (readers of Special Education Today know about the promised-and-never-provided 40% support, right?). She uses this back-story to help explain how current events are essentially a continuation of a 50-year trend to get rid of special education.

The Trump administration has taken the government shutdown as an opportunity to end federal oversight of the education services offered to more than 8 million children with disabilities in America. Last month, the Department of Education attempted to fire nearly every staff member left at the Office of Special Education Programs—an action now stuck in litigation. The department had already canceled millions of dollars in grants to provide teacher training and parental support for students with disabilities, and it is now “exploring additional partnerships” to move special-education services elsewhere in the government. Ostensibly, these cuts and administrative changes are part of a broader effort to empower states. But whatever the motive, the result is clear: The government has abandoned its commitment to an equitable education for all children.

This attack did not come out of nowhere. Over the course of five decades, Congress has repeatedly weakened the transformative law that has governed education for disabled students, putting it in the precarious and dysfunctional position it was in when Donald Trump took office.

Along the way Ms. Stetler introduces a child named Ellie, a Texas fifth grader who has Down syndrome, and her own daughter name Louisa, who lives in Ohio and also has Down syndrome. She contrasts the educational services they receive as an illustration of how variable special education can be. For Ms. Stetler, those differences are a warning about what special education could become, a warning that corresponds closely with the warnings David Bateman sounded in his essay of 31 October 2025,

Ms Sttetler, who is a professor of art history at Miami University of Ohio as well as the mother of a child with disabilities, has written persuasively about special education matters previously. Readers of SET may recall that I mentioned her NYTimes essay in a post about funding for special education (“US funding of special education for 2025”) and they can learn more about her from her personal Website and from the Miami U. bio page. She has published many other essays relevant to special education, as you may learn; they are worth reading.

Ms. Stetler’s The Atlantic article may be behind a paywall. I can read it because I subscribe. If you don’t subscribe, you may still be able to read it by using The Atlantic’s courtesy read or subscribing to a newsletter offering from the magazine. Additionally, your university or local library may provide access.