Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined 29 of her Senate colleagues in calling on the Trump administration to stop its unlawful attempt to dismantle the Department of Education's enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

A recent Washington Post report revealed that the administration is working to move IDEA enforcement, which ensures educational rights and protections for students with disabilities, to another federal agency as it attempts to shut down the Department of Education.

"Your moves to illegally shut down the U.S. Department of Education's efforts to administer and enforce the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and potentially shift this work to another agency would reverse decades of progress in how we support students with disabilities and their families," the senators wrote in a letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. "When Congress created the U.S. Department of Education, lawmakers intentionally placed enforcement of IDEA under this new Department rather than the Department of Health and Human Services. This was done because of our recognition as a society that students with disabilities should be treated as individuals seeking equal opportunity for learning and independence, rather than as patients and second-class citizens."

"Your latest reported effort to illegally move IDEA responsibilities, oversight, and programming to another federal agency would further erode the protections that countless mothers, fathers, educators, advocates, and students with disabilities have fought for years to build," continued the senators.

The senators questioned the legality of the administration's actions and warned that the change would harm students nationwide. They urged the Administration to focus instead on strengthening the infrastructure schools and districts rely on to provide the education and support required under federal law.

The full text of the letter can be found here.

Senator Cortez Masto is a champion for students and schools across Nevada. She has called out President Trump's attempts to eliminate the Department of Education and pushed the administration to end its chaotic and dangerous immigration enforcement near schools. She strongly condemned the Department of Education's decision to defund grants that support Nevada's universities. When the Trump administration withheld nearly seven billion dollars in federal funding for public schools, she urged the Department of Education to restore the funding.

###