Observations From Below: Make America FAPE Again

Over the course of my education, I have been fortunate to have mostly great teachers. However, I have had two bad experiences. The first of these experiences occurred in the first grade. My teacher was nearing retirement and didn’t want to expend the extra energy to teach me. Instead, she expected my assistants to pick up her slack, which went above and beyond their job description. As it worked out, that teacher retired in the middle of the school year, and I was able to make it through the first grade.

The next negative encounter happened in the sixth grade when the teacher I was assigned to refused to help me, almost inciting a protest march on the school. By the sixth grade, I had already started winning awards from the school system for my academic performance. I had a reputation of being a good student, but regardless of my academic achievements, she still didn’t want me in her class due to a bad situation with a previous student with a disability. I guess she assumed that all students with a disability are trouble and difficult to teach. I was eventually reassigned to another teacher, and I wound up doing great in her class.

I don’t have a problem with a couple of teachers making negative comments about me as a student. I bring these incidents up today because we now have a situation where President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is in the spotlight. She either doesn’t understand the laws our elected officials have to enforce, or she doesn’t seem to have sufficient experience in the public education sector. I typically stay clear of commenting directly on politics, because I believe disability is and always will be a bipartisan issue.

During an exchange at her confirmation hearing between Sen. Tim Kaine (D – Va), Mrs. DeVos appeared not to understand that education for students with disabilities is guaranteed by a federal mandate under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1990. The law was originally created in 1975 under the moniker of the Education for all Handicapped Children Act (EHA), which guarantees students with a disability to be provided with Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) that is tailored to their individual needs. This is the law that created Individualized Education Plans (IEP), which helps to equalize opportunity for education.

IDEA has been ratified and amended three times since its inception, showing that there is still bipartisan support. Despite this common knowledge and the fact that the law has been around for over forty years, Mrs. DeVos said in her confirmation hearing that she was “confused” about the act. She then wrote a letter to Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga) stating her interpretation of the law, as well as being “eager to bring a sense of urgency” to the “implementation and enforcement of IDEA at federal, state and local levels.” Even after DeVos’ clarification of her position, I still have reservations. I’m also not alone in having concerns, while other “disability-rights advocates were upset by what was either DeVos’ lack of understanding of the federal education law or her belief that states’ rights should take precedence over a federal civil rights law.”

Some disability advocates on the right have pointed out that DeVos isn’t all bad news. For example, her advocacy of school choice (particularly charter and private schooling) might benefit parents who feel that there are children that need alternative options to be adequately served other than what the public school system can offer. I take their point, but in the case of private schools, there is a problem with this logic in the fact they don’t have to follow federal or local regulations (such as IDEA), but still receive federal/public funding through the use a waiver system. If she can find a balance between everyone’s right to FAPE and expanding options in ways other than public school, I will support her. For people with disabilities, this is almost equivalent to a scenario to where if Brown v. Board of Education were to be taken away, propelling us back the Civil Rights era. It is very emotional for my community.

***At the time of finishing this blog, it has been confirmed that Betsy DeVos has become Secretary of Education. She passed by the slimmest of margins, as this confirmation is the first time in U.S. History that the Vice President had to cast the deciding vote for a cabinet nominee. Despite my reservations, due to everything I’ve learned about her, we must move forward with the most optimistic of expectations. I encourage advocates on both sides of the aisle to not lose the energy that was created by her nomination and turn this into a positive learning experience for her. For better or worse, she’s now in charge of the Education Department. We just better make sure she follows through in her goals of FAPE, IDEA enforcement, and the extension of educational possibilities to children with disabilities, as promised in her letter to Sen. Isackson.

That’s how we get more kids to roll across the stage with diplomas, just like I did……..