ND4PS ACTION ALERT: Protect Students with Disabilities and Their Families from Harmful U.S. Department of Education Staffing Cuts

Source:  ND4PS Coalition Update | October 15, 2025

IMPORTANT CALL TO ACTION:

On Friday, October 10, in the midst of the federal government shutdown, 95% of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) staff, as well as additional staff in the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) were laid off. These key offices work with and oversee states in upholding the rights of students with disabilities, and there is understandable, justifiable anger, fear, and concern about the unknowns and potential impacts of these firings to children with disabilities and their families moving forward.

ND DPI released a statement that “AT PRESENT [emphasis ours], nothing has changed regarding the implementation or delivery of services and supports for ND students with disabilities or those benefiting from programs administered through OSEP and OESE.” We appreciate their reassurance in the short-term, but we’ve seen and heard the outcry from fellow parents, public education advocates, and disability community champions, and the ND4PS coalition exists to stand together, speak up, and hold our government accountable to uphold the civil rights laws, funding, and programs – and the staff required to provide and oversee them – that have been hard and long fought for.

Public schools serve ALL students of ALL abilities, and meeting the unique and diverse needs of kids and families requires resources, both financial and through the expertise, technical assistance, and oversight provided by these federal workers. Please join us in contacting the members of our ND congressional delegation - Senators Hoeven and Cramer and Representative Fedorchak - to express your concern and ask what action they will take to ensure that our students with disabilities and their families will not be negatively impacted, not now nor in the future, by these dramatic staffing cuts at the U.S. Department of Education.