"The only way to ensure that our promise to provide every opportunity for students with disabilities, and help them achieve their full potential, is to give our schools the dollars they need"
About this Quote
Gordon Smith distills a hard truth about educational equity: rights without resources are hollow. The promise to students with disabilities is not merely aspirational; it is a legal and moral commitment to a free appropriate public education and to learning in the least restrictive environment. Delivering on that commitment requires more than goodwill. It depends on sustained, predictable funding that matches the real cost of specialized services.
When Congress enacted what is now the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, it pledged to shoulder a significant share of the extra costs. For decades, that pledge has been underfunded, leaving states and local districts to scramble. The consequences show up in overloaded caseloads for special educators, long waits for evaluations, uneven access to speech and occupational therapy, and gaps in assistive technology. Underfunding forces triage, turns IEPs into wish lists, and makes a child’s access to supports depend on where they live rather than what they need.
Money, in this context, is not a crude stand-in for care; it is the practical means to hire specialized staff, train general educators, reduce class sizes, improve transportation and accessibility, and comply with complex procedural safeguards that protect families. It also underwrites early intervention, which can dramatically improve outcomes and reduce long-term costs.
Smith, a former Republican senator from Oregon, frames the issue in terms that should resonate across partisan lines: if the nation has made a promise, it must fund it. That asserts accountability for federal mandates and rejects the politics of unfunded expectations that strain local budgets and pit programs against one another.
Investing sufficiently in special education is not charity. It is a civil rights obligation and a sound social investment that yields higher graduation and employment rates, greater independence, and reduced reliance on social services. Dollars are choices. To keep faith with students with disabilities and tap their full potential, those choices must match the scale of the promise.
When Congress enacted what is now the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, it pledged to shoulder a significant share of the extra costs. For decades, that pledge has been underfunded, leaving states and local districts to scramble. The consequences show up in overloaded caseloads for special educators, long waits for evaluations, uneven access to speech and occupational therapy, and gaps in assistive technology. Underfunding forces triage, turns IEPs into wish lists, and makes a child’s access to supports depend on where they live rather than what they need.
Money, in this context, is not a crude stand-in for care; it is the practical means to hire specialized staff, train general educators, reduce class sizes, improve transportation and accessibility, and comply with complex procedural safeguards that protect families. It also underwrites early intervention, which can dramatically improve outcomes and reduce long-term costs.
Smith, a former Republican senator from Oregon, frames the issue in terms that should resonate across partisan lines: if the nation has made a promise, it must fund it. That asserts accountability for federal mandates and rejects the politics of unfunded expectations that strain local budgets and pit programs against one another.
Investing sufficiently in special education is not charity. It is a civil rights obligation and a sound social investment that yields higher graduation and employment rates, greater independence, and reduced reliance on social services. Dollars are choices. To keep faith with students with disabilities and tap their full potential, those choices must match the scale of the promise.
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| Topic | Student |
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