Kathleen Cannino feared this day was coming.
President Donald Trump signed an order this month calling for the U.S. Department of Education to be dismantled. Trump, who argues that the agency is wasteful and ineffective, already has overseen the layoffs of about half of its staff. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley have celebrated Trump's plan, saying states should control education.
An outspoken advocate for special education in Louisiana whose 12-year-old son has a disability, Cannino is alarmed about what the Education Department’s demise could mean for children like hers. Without the agency monitoring states’ compliance with special education laws, Cannino worries that it will fall on parents to try to hold schools accountable.
“Their fight is already difficult enough,” she said, “and I knew it was going to get harder.”
Cannino is all too familiar with those struggles. After her son allegedly faced verbal and physical abuse by staffers at his St. Tammany Parish school in 2018, Cannino sued the district and started homeschooling her son, Noah. Since then, she has successfully pushed for cameras to be installed in special-education classrooms and helped fellow parents demand that schools accommodate their children with disabilities.
She also called attention to shortcomings in the state’s special education system, which the Louisiana Legislative Auditor confirmed in a recent series of reports. The auditor found that the state education department failed to follow up on many parents’ complaints and provides minimal oversight of schools’ special-education programs. (State officials say the agency complies with federal law and has hired additional monitors.)
Until now, the state has had to answer to the federal Education Department, which provides more than $240 million annually to Louisiana in special-education funding. The agency enforces the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, which requires schools to provide services to students with disabilities. And its Office for Civil Rights investigates parents' complaints, including dozens in Louisiana.
Trump has promised to preserve that funding, but it’s unclear what will happen to the Education Department’s other functions, including its oversight of special education.
Cannino recently spoke with The Advocate | The Times-Picayune about why the department’s dismantling has her so worried. The interview has been edited and condensed.
What’s going well with special education in Louisiana? And what isn’t?
The thing that's going well is teachers who really care and people who really, truly want to improve special education.
As far as what could be improved, in my experience, I think it needs to come from the top. We have a lack of monitoring and enforcement. Our state pretty much allows self-reporting from school districts but it doesn’t verify that information.
When there is a problem, or a child's needs aren't being met, there's very limited ways for parents to improve that or correct that.
What was your reaction when President Trump issued his order to dismantle the Education Department?
I was extremely worried and disappointed and concerned. And upset for these families of children with disabilities because I know their fight is already difficult enough, and I knew it was going to get harder.
My fear is that parents have less of a recourse if things don’t go right. There might be these (special education) laws, but without a way to enforce them, it doesn't do parents any good.
Why do you think the U.S. Education Department is important?
The federal Department of Education is your checks and balance. Without them, you have loss of oversight, loss of enforcement of IDEA, loss of monitoring of state programs.
Parents can write a complaint and they assign an attorney and investigate. They would hold the district accountable to correct the issue.
It was helpful because that seemed to be the only thing that school districts really paid attention to, that had any teeth. Now, if you don't have that, what are you going to do if the state fails to enforce (the law)?
What else does the department do?
The federal Department of Education is also responsible for data collection. They can use that to improve policy, target resources where they see inequalities or a need for it.
For instance, they collect the graduation rate of children with disabilities. If you're not monitoring that and these kids start dropping out, how will you know there's a problem?
They monitor factors such as the ability of these children to read. If they stop monitoring that, you don't know if these kids can read.
There's also things like restraint and seclusion numbers. If you have a school that is secluding one student 100 times, that needs to be looked at. That should be a red flag.
Do you think the Trump administration has a clear plan for special education?
Absolutely not. Not when they cut the staff at (the Office for Civil Rights), which is extremely important for oversight and enforcement.
Supposedly, they're going to move IDEA under the Department of Health and Human Services. But they've also cut the health department staff.
[Trump’s Secretary of Education Linda] McMahon was on Fox News being interviewed and the reporter asked what IDEA stands for and she couldn't even tell her. She knew nothing about special education.
The Department of Education keeps posting on Facebook about "boys in girls sports." They're not focusing on these children with disabilities and their education.
Proponents say that abolishing the Education Department will restore authority to states and reduce restrictions on federal funding.
Our state is already in charge of education, it's in our Louisiana Constitution. So it's not correct to say that education will go back to the states — it's already at the states.
To say they're going to get the money without strings attached, that is scary. If you accept funding, you're agreeing to the assurances that you will provide a free and appropriate public education (to students with disabilities). If they don't have to agree to that, they can do whatever they want with the money.
It would weaken the protections for students and parents as far as being able to hold districts accountable if they're not meeting the child's needs.
What can parents of children with disabilities do in this moment?
I would make sure that your school district has a plan in place so that your child's needs are met. So there's a way to address concerns in a meaningful way if there's a problem.
It's really going to be up to the parents to make sure that our children are not left behind or left out, and that their educational rights are protected.
If we don't have the federal Department of Education to make it happen, we're going to have to make it happen ourselves.
