Maine educators say federal staffing cuts are making it harder to provide special education services and meet legal requirements for students with disabilities.
BANGOR, Maine — Educators across Maine said federal staffing cuts are putting special education services — and the students who rely on them — at risk.
About one in five students in Maine’s public schools received special education services —one of the highest rates in the country, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. School leaders said that made the state especially vulnerable to the impact of federal workforce reductions.
The U.S. Department of Education recently cut positions in offices that oversee special education and civil rights enforcement. Local administrators said those changes made it harder for districts to get the guidance, training, and oversight they depend on to serve students with disabilities.
Bangor Superintendent Dr. Marie Robinson said the cuts could have serious long-term impacts on schools.
“It’s really critical that the funding helps the local schools to support those required services that are a legal and moral responsibility,” Robinson said.
The staffing reductions also left fewer federal employees to monitor compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, which guarantees every child access to a free and appropriate education.
“I’d like to believe that we would be able to continue those services,” Robinson said. “The ramifications of doing that without oversight, without additional funding, are yet to be seen and are concerning.”
Maine Education Association President Jesse Hargrove said educators across the state were feeling the strain.
“The staffing cuts hurt — I think that is what we’re most concerned about,” Hargrove said.
He added that Congress had never fully met its decades-old commitment to fund special education at the level it promised.
“We’d like to see Congress do what it had pledged to do many, many years ago in funding special education,” Hargrove said.
Sarah Wilkinson, a member of the Maine Education Association, said the cuts risked deepening that strain.
“Losing capacity at all levels — and support and training at all levels — is really just putting a more and more vulnerable burden on those serving the most vulnerable students,” Wilkinson said.
Despite the challenges, Robinson said Bangor educators remained committed to meeting student needs.
“We are really fortunate to have a really strong staff who can rise to the challenge and are dedicated — they’re going to do whatever they can to make sure student needs are met,” Robinson said.