Thanksgiving weekend was the 50th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), first passed as the Education for All Handicapped Children on Nov. 29, 1975 (the law was renamed IDEA in 1990).
“Fifty years ago, with the passage of IDEA, America made a promise to students with disabilities and their families—that they would be able to participate fully in learning and reach their potential,” said NEA President Becky Pringle.
Before IDEA, students with disabilities were routinely institutionalized, isolated from their peers, and denied access to public education. Today, 95 percent of students with disabilities attend regular schools and more than two-thirds of them are in regular classes, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Funding has remained an issue, however. From the start, IDEA said the federal government would pay up to 40% of the average per pupil cost for special education students. The federal contribution has never come close—it’s currently just 12%.
Now, the Trump administration is moving selected Department of Education functions to other agencies—a threat not just to IDEA, but public education as a whole. If we allow one part of the system to be dismantled in silence, the rest won’t be far behind. As pastor Martin Niemoller said, “Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
This week, the Senate is expected to vote on renewing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that have made health insurance affordable for over 20 million Americans. Congress must act immediately or significantly higher premiums—double what they are now, on average—will take effect Jan. 1, the same day massive tax breaks for the ultra-rich become permanent under the GOP’s reconciliation bill.
The impact would reverberate nationwide. One-quarter of those who get health coverage through ACA marketplaces are “very likely” to go without insurance altogether if Congress allows the subsidies to expire, according to a new KFF survey.
Tell Congress what you think!
In Solidarity,
Kimberly Johnson Trinca
National Education Association
Congress must act immediately or premiums on Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces will rise significantly—more than double, on average—come Jan. 1, putting health coverage out of reach for millions of Americans.
CHEER:Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) led a letter urging Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “immediately reverse course” and halt plans to illegally outsource core Department of Education functions to other federal agencies.
CHEER:Reps. Mark Takano (D-CA), Grace Meng (D-NY), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM), and Yvette Clarke (D-NY) led a letter signed by 105 members of Congress expressing “significant concerns that the Department of Justice is refusing to properly enforce federal hate crime statutes.”
CHEER:Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) led 73 House Democrats in a letter urging the Department of Education to use all available resources to support schools, students, and states affected by the Trump Administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement actions.
CHEER:Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Servicemember Student Loan Affordability Act (S. 3253), which would allow servicemembers to consolidate or refinance student loan debt and continue to benefit from the 6% interest rate they are entitled to through the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
CHEER:Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA) said during debate on H.R. 1069—the deceptively named PROTECT Our Kids Act prohibiting foreign influences in elementary and secondary schools, particularly the Chinese government—that the real way to keep kids safe is to protect them from gun violence.
CHEER:Sens. Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Reps. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) and Joe Neguse (D-CO) led a bipartisan, bicameral letter with 89 signatories asking House leadership to vote on and pass the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act (S. 356/H.R. 1383) passed by the Senate.
JEER:Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)launched an investigation into 18 states and the District of Columbia over their policies allowing transgender students to play on women’s sports teams.
