Betsy DeVos Rescinds 72 Documents That Outlined Rights for Disabled Students

The Betsy DeVos Department of Education doesn't have many guiding principles, but one of them sure as hell seems to be "burn it all down." This past Friday, it was announced that DeVos and company rescinded 72 documents that outlined the ways in which schools should adhere to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act. The rescinding of these documents doesn't strip these students of their rights, but it does reflect the department's current thinking on the issues. And that is? Well, we don't know.

Instead we have a vacuum where these guidelines should be, because Donald Trump's administration is obsessed with killing government. Just as the EPA has been gutted and many State Department posts remain empty, the Department of Education has, in rapid order, been tearing up policy documents on everything from campus sexual assault to policies designed to help students pay back student loans, but papers designed to help the disabled? What kind of controversial things could be in there? The Washington Post has the details.

Advocates for students with disabilities were still reviewing the changes to determine their impact. Lindsay E. Jones, the chief policy and advocacy officer for the National Center for Learning Disabilities, said she was particularly concerned to see guidance documents outlining how schools could use federal money for special education removed.

“All of these are meant to be very useful … in helping schools and parents understand and fill in with concrete examples the way the law is meant to work when it’s being implemented in various situations,” said Jones.

Just when you thought that there was no way this administration could get any meaner, here they go dismantling protections for disabled people in schools. And for what reason? I'd love to tell you, but the DeVos Education Department didn't have any comment, because of course they didn't. Not bothering to defend the indefensible is pretty much what this Department of Education is all about.