MARQUETTE — Michigan education experts say that the rights and protections for students with disabilities are under threat after President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.

“Eliminating the department would be robbing these kids of their future,” said Thomas Morgan, the press secretary for the Michigan Education Association, the state’s largest union of school personnel.

Julie Cassidy, a Michigan League for Public Policy senior policy analyst, said, “Education for disabled students is definitely at risk right now.”

The league is a nonprofit research and advocacy group that works on societal issues, including education.

“What we’re seeing in all of these potential cuts and funding freezes is that it will disproportionately affect people with disabilities, whether that’s housing, health care, food insecurity or education,” Cassidy said.

The Individual with Disabilities Education Act, also known as IDEA, is managed by the federal Department of Education.

It’s the law that guarantees free public education and aid to children with disabilities and their parents.

Psychologist Amy Matthews, the director of the START (Statewide Autism Resources and Training) Project at Grand Valley State University, said that autistic students often need a higher level of support.

“A lack of funding and the loss of a system for monitoring and addressing IDEA violations will have a significant negative impact on the students and their families,” Matthews said.

According to state administrative rules for special education, the state and school districts must provide resources to individuals with disabilities and their families from birth until age 26.

Morgan said, “One of the common talking points (critics of the Department of Education) use is, ‘Oh, we’re just simply returning education to the states.’ Well, the states already run education.”

“What the Department of Education provides is the additional support for our students who need the most help, those students with autism, with ADHD, with physical disabilities, students in low-income rural and urban areas,” he said.

Matthews said, “If special education funding is sent directly to public schools without oversight, it will be difficult to ensure that IDEA is being followed.”

President Jimmy Carter established the U.S. Department of Education in 1979. Former President Ronald Reagan also tried to eliminate the department but failed to terminate it.

Congress would need to pass legislation to eliminate it.

Until then, Secretary of Education Lisa McMahon has been ordered to move programs like college student loans to other government departments for oversight.

Alexandra Stamm, the League for Public Policy’s education policy analyst, said students with disabilities should be “theoretically” covered and protected under state law.

“The funding would definitely be the concern if the federal department is closed and no longer provides funding for students who are receiving services,” she said.

Matthews said any student with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) could be harmed if funding to the state gets disrupted and without oversight to ensure fair and effective use of the money.

IEPs outline the services that students with disabilities and their families are entitled to receive.

“Students with IEPs need specially designed instruction and supplemental services to access the general curriculum, learning and social opportunities in school,” Matthews said.

Matthews said the cuts could also discourage people from becoming special education teachers.

“If it becomes more difficult for schools to receive funding and/or educating students becomes more difficult, it could lead to fewer people entering the field and, potentially, more people leaving the field,” she said.

“IDEA funding is used to train and coach teachers to implement evidence-based practices. Without oversight, funds may not be directed to critical professional learning,” she said.

Stamm said the adverse impacts will be potentially greater in rural areas.

“If you cut a few dollars, that might be cutting the only special teacher that they have,” she said.

“That’s where the state will have to find a way to make up the difference. And they will have to find a way because it is required in state law to do so,” Stamm said.

“Even if the Department of Education is closed, IDEA is still federal law,”

she said.