{"id":26512,"date":"2026-02-04T21:15:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T21:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/?p=26512"},"modified":"2026-02-04T21:15:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T21:15:29","slug":"protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting Special Education Amid Federal Funding Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education and Human Development shared insights in a January webinar related to special education and federal funding changes. Advocates are raising renewed concerns about the fragility of special education protections in the United States, noting that many of the same inclusion and civil rights arguments made decades ago continue today despite the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Federal oversight is increasingly strained, with thousands of civil rights cases reportedly backlogged, while schools face declining resources, growing service demands, and persistent shortages of qualified special education teachers. As federal investment decreases, education leaders stress that safeguarding disability rights will require coordinated action from states and the broader education community, alongside greater inclusion of special education history in standard curricula.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[161],"class_list":["post-26512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-bulletin","tag-february-2026"],"yoast_head":"\nProtecting Special Education Amid Federal Funding Changes - Office of Educational Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Protecting Special Education Amid Federal Funding Changes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Office of Educational Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-04T21:15:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"piperlowinger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"piperlowinger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/\",\"name\":\"Protecting Special Education Amid Federal Funding Changes - Office of Educational Research\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-04T21:15:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-04T21:15:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/#\/schema\/person\/05357a9b2e60e1fcc55b106f4eee906e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Office of Educational Research\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Protecting Special Education Amid Federal Funding Changes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/\",\"name\":\"Office of Educational Research\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/#\/schema\/person\/05357a9b2e60e1fcc55b106f4eee906e\",\"name\":\"piperlowinger\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c2c0d61ced245b39b96482219c0027e169009a45357244ffec8cdfcebf9ff9b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c2c0d61ced245b39b96482219c0027e169009a45357244ffec8cdfcebf9ff9b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"piperlowinger\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/author\/piperlowinger\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Protecting Special Education Amid Federal Funding Changes - Office of Educational Research","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Protecting Special Education Amid Federal Funding Changes","og_url":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/","og_site_name":"Office of Educational Research","article_published_time":"2026-02-04T21:15:29+00:00","author":"piperlowinger","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"piperlowinger","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/","url":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/","name":"Protecting Special Education Amid Federal Funding Changes - Office of Educational Research","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-02-04T21:15:29+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-04T21:15:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/#\/schema\/person\/05357a9b2e60e1fcc55b106f4eee906e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/2026\/02\/04\/protecting-special-education-amid-federal-funding-changes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Office of Educational Research","item":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Protecting Special Education Amid Federal Funding Changes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/#website","url":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/","name":"Office of Educational Research","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/#\/schema\/person\/05357a9b2e60e1fcc55b106f4eee906e","name":"piperlowinger","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c2c0d61ced245b39b96482219c0027e169009a45357244ffec8cdfcebf9ff9b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c2c0d61ced245b39b96482219c0027e169009a45357244ffec8cdfcebf9ff9b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"piperlowinger"},"url":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/author\/piperlowinger\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26512"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26513,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26512\/revisions\/26513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}