June 18, 2026
The Boost News
SPOTLIGHT: SPECIAL EDUCATION
The Trump administration’s ongoing plan to dismantle the Department of Education — laid out in the far-right’s Project 2025 blueprint to restructure the government — resulted this week in a critical and possibly crippling hit to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
In short, it’s moving oversight of the department’s Office for Civil Rights, which has already experienced mass layoffs, to The Department of Justice, and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSER), which manages billions of dollars in grants and oversees state compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Education Department “already has offloaded some of its programs through 10 earlier internal agreements, but the offices affected by Tuesday’s announcement were among the most closely watched,” writes the Associated Press. The 74 writes that “much of what the Trump administration envisions for special education is likely illegal.”
“HHS and DOJ … weren’t built to replace the Department of Education’s school-specific expertise,” Robyn Linscott, The Arc’s director of education and family policy, said in a statement. “Moving [the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act] oversight into HHS pushes students with disabilities toward a medical model, where disability is treated as a diagnosis to manage instead of a natural part of human life.”
Worse, Secretary of HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has spent decades spreading disinformation about autism and “villainizing autistic people.”
The IDEA is intended to equip students as they learn alongside their peers, not cure them, writes the AP. Jennifer Coco, interim executive director of the Center for Learner Equity, noted that “the HHS is not prepared to oversee and administer the IDEA program effectively. Health and education systems speak in entirely different languages, including variations in terminology, training and disciplines.”
Learn more about the changes:
RFK Jr. Will Oversee Disability Education Policy (Mother Jones)
Isolation & Neglect: Disability Advocates Fear Return to a Bleak Past Under HHS (The 74)
Families of kids with disabilities warn Education Department changes could break a flawed system (AP)
Linda McMahon says she heard parents. Parents say special education changes show she didn’t listen. (Chalkbeat)
What will the Justice Department OCR agreement mean for schools? (K-12 Dive)
MORE ON SPECIAL ED
3 states sue over cancelled special education teacher training grants California, Rhode Island and Wisconsin say the cuts are harmful. (K-12 Dive)
The private school choice boom leaves behind many kids in public school Leaving the public school system is risky for many students with I/DD. Private schools aren’t legally required to admit students with special needs, and aren’t obligated to offer services. (AP)
School Districts Are Struggling to Keep Up With Surging Special Education Needs If the trends continue at the same pace as the last decade, students with disabilities would make up 25% of the student population by 2035. (Governing)
AUTISM
Study Linking Vaccines to Autism Retracted A 2010 paper that linked hepatitis B vaccines in infant boys to an increased risk of autism diagnosis was retracted and another study by the same authors is under investigation (MedPage Today)
White House autism announcement triggers surge in online searches for leucovorin, Tylenol (CIDRAP/Univ. of Minnesota)
‘Autistic kids are being experimented on’: inside America’s booming market for unproven stem cell infusions The infusions are backed by HHS Secretary RFK Jr. (The Guardian)
VOCATIONAL
OPINION: Workers with disabilities deserve better than subminimum wages A bipartisan bill to end subminimum wages is sitting in Congress. The argument that ending the practice would result in workers with disabilities losing their jobs has been disproved with new peer-reviewed evidence. (The Hill)
STATES
Note: This starts with New York, where a majority of The Boost’s readership currently is based, and continues alphabetically by state.
U.S. Sues N.Y. State Over Troubled $11 Billion Home Health Care Program The Justice Depart. accused officials of failing to police PPL, the company overseeing home care program CDPAP, which it claims has siphoned off millions of dollars. A spokeswoman for Gov. Kathy Hochul called the suit an attempt to weaponize the justice system. (The New York Times)
US Justice Department accuses New York state of letting fraud flourish in Medicaid program (AP News)
Disability rights advocate explains lawsuit against New York’s Medical Aid in Dying law (Spectrum Local News)
Cutting Red Tape: Governor Hochul Unveils First Wave of Regulatory Reforms in Her ‘EXPRESS NY’ Initiative (Governor.ny.com)
In NY, parents of disabled kids fault state for closing Jowonio School, which they saw as a godsend (syracuse.com)
Alabama Medicaid adds new requirement for autism-related ABA referrals starting July 1 (WSFA.com)
Colorado may tighten the rules for specialized facility schools serving students with intense needs The current requirements are “pretty minimal.” (Chalkbeat)
Illinois establishes Department of Disability Advocacy and Guardianship (Our Quad Cities)
Indiana pauses autism therapy provider signups for at least six months More than 6,000 Hoosiers were accessing ABA therapy through Medicaid as of January. (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Kansas drops out of lawsuit targeting senior and disability rights It pulled out of Texas v. Kennedy, which challenges Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The lawsuit started with 17 states, and just six are left: Texas, Alaska, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri and Montana. (News from the States)
A 22-year-old fell from a window in NJ and died. A year later, another did the same. Families are demanding action His death has renewed calls for action on legislation that would protect people with I/DD, including requiring some group homes to put cameras in common areas. (nj.com)
NC lawmakers seek tighter rules for autism therapy in push to eliminate Medicaid fraud (NC Newsline)
TRAVEL
Airlines must train staff to better assist disabled travelers (USA Today)
ENTERTAINMENT
Netflix To Debut Movie Starring Actor With Down Syndrome (Disability Scoop/paywall)