1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

I’m writing to demand you oppose the gutting of the Department of Education and the unconstitutional dismantling of programs that Congress created and mandated by law. The administration has eliminated 121 of 135 employees from the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, which oversees $15 billion in funding for 7.5 million children with disabilities. It fired 299 staffers from the Office for Civil Rights. These offices were established by federal statute. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act passed in 1975 and Title I funding created by Congress in 1965 cannot legally be unwound through executive action. This administration is testing how far it can push illegal boundaries while families and students pay the price. Public schools educate nearly 90% of American children. That’s 49.5 million students who depend on federal oversight to enforce their civil rights, ensure special education services, and support low-income communities. Cutting these programs doesn’t return power to states. It abandons the most vulnerable kids to whatever treatment individual states feel like providing. Before IDEA, children with disabilities were refused admission to schools or warehoused in substandard facilities. Federal oversight exists because states failed these children for generations. Title I funding serves lower-income students who need support the most. Without federal enforcement, there is no accountability when states ignore the law or shortchange disabled kids and poor communities. Education lifts children out of poverty. It prepares them for college and careers. Dismantling the systems that protect their rights and fund their programs guarantees worse outcomes for millions of kids who had no say in these decisions. I’m calling on you to block any legislation that closes the Department of Education, defund any executive actions that circumvent Congress, and demand reinstatement of all illegally fired federal workers. Protect public education funding and the civil rights enforcement that ensures every child gets the education they’re guaranteed by law.