Amid Trump cuts, Senators Warren, Markey call on Congress to fully fund special education

Boston Globe

10-07-2025

New legislation for full funding, to which Warren and Markey are cosponsors, would give Congress a decade to finally make good on its 40 percent pledge. As of fiscal 2025, that annual contribution would amount to $31 billion. Reaching that level of investment could enable districts to hire 400,000 more special educators and therapists nationwide, federal budget documents have said.
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Congress must pass the legislation, known as the IDEA Full Funding Act, to 'uphold our promise to disabled students,' said Markey.
'It's been nearly half a century since the federal government enshrined into law the right for students with disabilities to access free, quality public education,' Markey said. 'This law is essential for ensuring every student can fulfill their dreams and seek new opportunities, yet Congress has still not provided the full funding necessary to guarantee that all students are not only integrated into our education system, but flourish in it.'
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Warren, meanwhile, blamed President Trump for, she said, digging the funding hole even deeper. Though Trump's fiscal 2026 budget recommendation held special education funding steady, other cuts, such as those to Medicaid, threaten to jeopardize special education services.
'We desperately need to deliver on the promise of giving students with disabilities the tools they need to succeed in school,' Warren said. 'Instead, the Trump administration is dismantling our public education system and defunding programs that support our special need students.'
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The senators' comments come in the wake of
Locally, Ellen Chambers, founder of
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Funding must be accompanied by political will, she said.
'There is a complete disconnect between government and families like Dante's,' Chambers said. 'Even when
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At the national level,
Warren's and Markey's calls for full funding were echoed by several advocacy groups, including The School Superintendents Association.
'Congress has shortchanged this population and this historic commitment chronically,' said Noelle Ellerson Ng, chief advocacy and governance officer for the association.
Districts must compensate for the federal funding deficit with local taxpayer dollars. That frequently requires districts to make cuts to other programs, however,
as communities commonly refuse to pay more in taxes to make up the shortfall, Ng said.
'The blame here doesn't lie with the kids who simply exist and have a different learning need,' she said.
The full funding legislation faces stiff political headwinds. Though the bill has bipartisan support in the House, it has no Republican sponsors in the Senate. Up until about eight years ago, when there were still a sizable number of centrists in Congress, the same legislation had consistently received bipartisan support across both legislative bodies (though never enough to pass), Ng said.
Still, Ng believes this year —
'If not now, when?' she said.
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Becky Pringle, president of the country's largest teachers union, the National Education Association, said fully funding special education is 'a matter of dignity, inclusion, and justice.'
'Educators are devoted to supporting students with disabilities, but they need the right resources, staffing, and systems in place to do that work well,' Pringle said.
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In Massachusetts, disability advocacy groups said there's much work to be done locally beyond support for full federal funding.
Dante Fowler, 12, ran back to class with speech pathologist Marley Dutcher after a break on the playground at the Amego School in Franklin on April 25. Dante started at the school, which specializes in serving students with autism and other disabilities, at the beginning of April. Advocates are calling on Congress to fully fund special education in schools across the US.
Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
Chambers, of SPEDWatch, said the state education department has been 'derelict for decades' in its duty to ensure local districts are following special education law (the federal government earlier this year
'When you board an airplane, must you study federal air travel regulations to ensure you have a safe trip? ... When you go to a doctor, dentist, or hairdresser, do you have to study governing regulations to ensure you are not harmed?' Chamber said. 'No, because you pay taxes to fund agencies that enforce those regulations for you.'
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Nora Bent is director of government affairs and strategic partnerships for
Bent said the organization is working with the Legislature and Governor Healey's office to determine whether changes to payment rates or regulations could result in more seats at high-quality special education schools so students like Dante don't have to wait for months on end. She sees an opportunity for Massachusetts to lead the way.
'How does the state, given the current environment at the federal level, prioritize this? How do we move forward?' she said, adding the first step is acknowledging there is a problem.
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Sharing families' stories is a powerful way of doing that, Bent said. The general public, at this moment, doesn't necessarily understand the complexity of the issue, she said.
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'It's not just about missing school,' she said. 'It's the mental health issue from isolation, the health issues that can pop up, the family and caregiver burnout.'
Pam Nourse, executive director of the
'In a very real sense, budgets are a reflection of our priorities — and our system has failed to place adequate value on children with disabilities,' Nourse said. 'Regardless of the politics of it all, these kids are simply forgotten.
'These are real kids with real needs, and they have a right to an education,' she added. 'They deserve better.'
Mandy McLaren can be reached at