Sign up for Chalkbeat Newark’s free newsletter to get the latest news about the city’s public school system delivered to your inbox.
Thousands of students with disabilities in New Jersey could face significant setbacks as proposed federal cuts to special education funding, staff reductions, and changes in oversight could worsen existing challenges, particularly in low-income districts like Newark, advocates say.
As the Trump administration moves forward with changes at the federal Education Department, school districts like Newark that serve a larger population of vulnerable students face even greater risks since they rely on federal and state funding to provide special education services.
“I think that families are scared. I was going to say nervous, but honestly, I think it’s more than just being nervous. They’re afraid, and rightfully so based on what’s happening,” said Carolyn Hayer, executive director for the SPAN Parent Advocacy Network.
Hayer and Nina Peckman, an attorney at Advocates for Children of New Jersey, spoke about the potential impacts of shifting special education oversight, federal funding cuts, and staffing reductions at a virtual panel last week hosted by the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University and moderated by Chalkbeat Newark’s Jessie Gomez.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 20 directing the closure of the U.S. Department of Education – a move that could significantly impact special education funding and programs. The next day, he announced the transfer and oversight of special education to the Department of Health and Human Services, though he offered no specifics about the plan.
The federal Education Department has been the sole agency providing resources, funding, and staff to ensure students with disabilities receive a fair education in public schools. The department also issues federal guidance on policies to help ensure students’ rights and existing special education laws, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a law that predates the federal Education Department and ensures students receive a free, appropriate public education tailored to their individual needs.
Hayer recalled what it was like before the creation of the federal Education Department and how children with disabilities were often excluded from public schools. One of her biggest concerns is “if we go backwards to that, what will that mean for our children?”
“Primarily, it will make it much more difficult for families to ensure that their children have access to the services that they need and are entitled to,” Hayer added.
School districts that rely on federal funding are at greater risk
Approximately 7.5 million students with disabilities across the country rely on special education services. In New Jersey, roughly 240,000 students receive special education support in schools under IDEA. Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed budget for 2026 anticipates $420 million in federal funding for special education services, according to the state’s school board association.
That money is allocated to schools to fund therapists, transportation, aides, and other support services for students with disabilities, and if cut, would be “terrible for children and families,” especially from low-income backgrounds, Peckman said during last week’s virtual conversation.
“We can see the increased numbers of parents calling for assistance, increased numbers of children not having the right services, the right placements, delays in evaluations, delays in classifications. The lack of access to school-based services because they’re just, you know, nonexistent,” Peckman said.
School districts, such as Newark, that rely on federal Title I funding that supports schools in low-income areas, and special education aid, will be hit hardest by funding cuts, Hayer said. But she says parents need to have a seat at the table so districts can understand where the needs lie.
“I think that is the critical part that we’re not having, not involving [parents] in those conversations and then making decisions without the input of family. So finding ways to engage families, I think, is very, very important,” Hayer said.
Of its 40,000 students, Newark Public Schools enrolled roughly 7,000 students with disabilities this school year, but families this school year have reported delays in receiving services, class assignments, and classroom aides for their students. The district’s students with disabilities receive therapy, in-classroom, and other support services, but face greater learning challenges as they have been among the hardest hit by the fallout from the pandemic, with some requiring makeup services from learning disruptions.
Parents may also be unaware that they can submit complaints to the state when disputes arise over school services for students with disabilities, Peckman said. But families are experiencing delays in special education hearings that may be exacerbated by a reduction in federal staffing and more responsibilities to state education departments, Peckman added.
“Families should continue advocating for services,” Hayer said but added that schools need to help families understand their rights and “intentionally engage families in decision-making as resources become constrained.”
In addition, Hayer said, schools are seeing “a tremendous turnover in school staffing,” specifically in special education teachers and paraprofessionals who help students go to the bathroom, eat, and complete assignments, among other duties during the school day.
“Teachers are stressed, maxed-out. But a lot of it is just that they’re burned out, emotionally, financially, and kind of at their wits’ end,” Hayer said.
Senators question plans to shift special education oversight
Earlier this month, 23 Democratic senators, including New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim, sent a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon demanding answers to a series of questions about students with disabilities, including whether the IDEA would be implemented and overseen as required by federal law and how layoffs at the department will affect kids and schools. The letter to McMahon also stressed that the Education Department is “the best positioned” to do the job of enforcing special education law.
“Transferring these authorities to the Department of Health and Human Services will not only overburden an agency already confronting massive workforce cuts orchestrated by this administration, but it will also stretch HHS beyond its expertise as medical, rather than educational, professionals,” the letter to McMahon read.
The letter also highlighted a backlog of 12,000 investigations at the federal Office for Civil Rights, with about half of those cases involving students with disabilities. The Trump administration reduced staffing across 12 regional divisions of the Office for Civil Rights last month.
“While all disabled students are harmed when supports are taken away and barriers left unchecked, disabled students of color are harmed disproportionately relative to disabled white students and nondisabled students of color,” the letter read.
At the virtual panel, Peckman and Hayer agreed that the federal Education Department’s role in special education enforcement is needed, and the transfer of those services could widen the gaps in academic recovery and chronic absenteeism rates among special education students.
“I think one of the most important things that the U.S. Department of Education has done, and why the potential to fully eliminate it is so scary, is they’re responsible for oversight and guidance,” Hayer added.
They also added that the Trump administration’s cuts to research, specifically the Institute for Educational Sciences, which analyzes data around student performance, would also hit students with disabilities the hardest, since it would be hard to determine how federal changes will impact academic performance.
Despite the changing federal landscape, the advocates emphasized that federal and state special education laws have not changed and parents should continue to “advocate and push schools” to get special education services.
“We have to keep in mind that nothing has changed specifically within the law,” Hayer said, “but we do know that as dollars and resources get pulled, services will change.”
Jessie Gómez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.
