The Brief

President Donald Trump has promised to keep special education intact, even as he dismantles the federal department that has overseen it for nearly a half century. But some experts and parents in California fear Trump’s policies will imperil the program on multiple fronts, and undoing decades of progress for disabled students.

“Students in special education are equally as important as students who aren’t, but that hasn’t always been the case. The disability community has fought hard for where we are now,” said Gina Gandolfi, a former special education teacher in San Bernardino County whose 10-year-old son has Down syndrome. “What if those services are taken away? Kids with disabilities will go back to being second-class students.”

Last month, Trump said he’s moving special education from the Department of Education, which he’s described as wasteful and inefficient, to the Department of Health and Human Services, under the direction of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Enforcement of special education laws would likely move to the Justice Department. Although the laws surrounding special education wouldn’t change, there’s likely to be disruptions as the program moves to a new department, especially one not focused on education and that’s undergoing a 20% reduction in its workforce.

More than 40 disability rights groups sent a strongly worded letter to Congress in early April imploring members to preserve special education funding, keep the program in the Department of Education and leave the department intact. The authors said the plan to move special education to Health and Human Services is “short-sighted, insulting and unacceptable.”

Trump has not announced cuts to special education funding, and Congress left its funding intact in the most recently passed budget. But at the same time, Trump has threatened to cut school funding to states — including California — that defy his orders to eliminate diversity programs or scrap protections for transgender students. The federal government currently covers about 10% of California’s total cost for special education.

Beyond school funding, Republicans in Congress are debating cuts to Medicaid, which would have a deep impact on services for students with disabilities and their families. School districts use Medicaid to help pay for speech and occupational therapy and mental health services for students with disabilities. In addition, parents with disabled children rely on California’s regional centers — funded in part by Medicaid — for diagnoses, in-home visits, equipment like wheelchairs and walkers and other services.

Impacts on special education services

Cuts to any of those programs would have a cascading effect that would upend the disability community, said Kristin Wright, former director of special education for California and currently the executive director of prevention, intervention and inclusive practices at the Sacramento County Office of Education.

For example, if families lose services from a Medicaid-funded agency such as a regional center, they may have to quit working to care for their disabled child. That could potentially catapult a family into poverty.

“It’s a fragile ecosystem,” Wright said. “These programs have evolved together. When you pull any one strand away, it affects everything else.”

Wright fears that the changes would set special education back decades. Until the 1970s, when the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act passed, many children with disabilities didn’t attend school at all. And for many years, they were often in separate classrooms, segregated from their classmates without disabilities. Now, in California, most students with disabilities spend the majority of their time in general education classes, with the assistance of aides and other supports, where they tend to do better academically and socially.

“We’ve come so far, moving away from pathologizing people and using a medical model of disability toward a social model, where disability is seen as a natural part of the human condition,” Wright said. “This feels like we’re backpedaling. As a society, we’re going to have to decide what we care about, and how committed we are to educating every student.”

Nathan Gandolfi, 10, in his bedroom in Highland on April 16, 2025.

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Kyle Grillot

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CalMatters

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About 14% of K-12 students in California are enrolled in special education, with disabilities ranging from mild learning disorders to severe autism or traumatic brain injuries.

Typically, students receive extra services from therapists, aides and special education teachers, which can be costly. California spent about $13 billion on special education last year, with about 10% coming from the federal government. That doesn’t include money that schools get from Medicaid. If Medicaid is cut, schools would have to find the money elsewhere.

Effects on schools

Ginese Quann is a special education director for the El Dorado County Office of Education and oversees the Special Education Local Plan Area, a cost-sharing consortium for 464 California charter schools. Quann said she’s not overly worried about the federal changes — yet.

Special education funding has always been in flux, she said, and the state has its own systems for monitoring and enforcing the program. Even if the federal government cuts its enforcement of special education laws, she said, parents will still be able to file complaints with the state.

She’s less sure about the transition to the Department of Health and Human Services. Even in a best-case scenario, there’s likely to be some disruptions in payments or services, she said. In a worst-case scenario, the program will be overseen by people with little expertise in how to educate students with disabilities.

The best she can do, Quann said, is to “try and cushion schools from changes at the federal level, so ideally there’s no impact on students. I see this as our biggest challenge right now.”

Awards, toys and stimulation devices sit on a dresser in the bedroom of 10-year-old Nathan Gandolfi, in Highland on April 16, 2025.

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Kyle Grillot

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CalMatters

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But even minor disruptions could be damaging for schools that rely on a smooth-running special education system. One of those schools is the Hanna Academy, a small nonprofit boarding school in Sonoma County that contracts with school districts to serve students with acute behavioral challenges. Federal changes to special education could have lasting effects on students, and jeopardize students’ and staff safety, said principal Courtney Jackson.

The academy, which opened in 1945, serves about 50 students from around California. The students receive extensive therapy, vocational training and academic and life-skills classes, delivered in small groups with numerous teachers and aides who can intervene when students have meltdowns or violent outbursts.

Budget cuts will likely mean fewer adults in classrooms, which could endanger students as well as staff. It also means students won’t get the individual attention they need and their progress will almost certainly drop off, Jackson said.

“We’re dealing with the most delicate population in education. When you start removing services in a careless manner, without a backup plan, it just causes chaos,” Jackson said. “The damage will be so deep, it could take years to fix and be far more expensive.”

Future of special education law

Special education has traditionally had bipartisan support, with champions in both parties. The Trump administration has promised to leave special education unscathed, but that would require continued funding, said Rorie Fitzpatrick, vice president for K-12 systems at the nonprofit research and consulting firm WestEd.

“The biggest concern is the future of IDEA,” Fitzpatrick said, referring to the 1975 legislation that created special education. “Students with disabilities have a right to a free, appropriate public education under the law. But you need well-trained staff and funding to make that happen. If you cut that funding, you’re gutting IDEA by default.”

Gandolfi, whose son has Down syndrome, said special education has made a world of difference for her son, Nathan, a fourth grader in Redlands Unified. He loves his friends in his general education classroom, and gets extra services like speech and occupational therapy, one-to-one classroom support and academic help through special education. Through the local regional center, he attends classes in swimming, drumming and social skills, as well as camps. He loves hip hop dance, movies, singing and his two younger siblings.

“He’s living his best life. He’s full of joy. He looks forward to school every day,” Gandolfi said. “We want him to have a long, purposeful, meaningful life, and having the support of special ed makes that possible.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

As Los Angeles homeowners grapple with the expense of rebuilding after last year’s devastating fires, an L.A. City Councilmember is putting forward an idea that could lower some costs.

Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades, has introduced a motion to explore waiving part of the city’s portion of the local sales tax for fire victims who purchase rebuilding materials in the city.

The 1% of the local 9.75% sales tax that goes into the city’s general fund would be given back to consumers under the proposal. The waiver could apply to lumber, appliances and other rebuilding goods purchased within the city.

The motion, introduced Friday by Park and seconded by Councilmember John Lee, says: “The City should do everything within its power to alleviate the financial burden for these residents and businesses in order to facilitate their return and stabilize the Pacific Palisades community.”

Would it make much of a difference? 

Economists told LAist the proposal could help many homeowners mitigate the high cost of rebuilding, but likely wouldn’t tip the scales for under-insured, under-resourced property owners.

“It wouldn't hurt if it's very well designed and easy to use,” said Alexander Meeks, a director at the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute. “But I'm not sure if it's really going to tackle the scale of the financial challenge that survivors are facing.”

Meeks noted that the tax waiver wouldn’t lower up-front costs such as environmental testing, architectural design and permitting. And it may not help homeowners sourcing raw materials from outside the city.

Zhiyun Li, a UCLA Anderson School of Management economist, said the waiver could help some homeowners justify the additional cost of rebuilding more fire-safe structures.

“Homeowners must typically pay out of pocket to upgrade to IBHS+ standards, which are more stringent,” Li said. “The tax waiver could encourage upgrading to IBHS+ standards or investing more in mitigation, thereby reducing future risk and improving the likelihood of maintaining insurance coverage.”

What’s next for the proposal? 

The proposed tax relief would not be available to properties that have been sold since the fires started in January 2025.

The motion has been sent to the City Council’s budget and fire recovery committees. If approved by the full council, it would require the city administrative officer, the Office of Finance and the city attorney to report back to the council within 60 days on options for crafting a tax relief plan.

The motion calls for the report to consider factors such as how to minimize the burden of administering the tax relief, what documentation homeowners would have to submit and what it would cost the city to oversee the program.

Senate and House Republican leadership have resurrected a stalled plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security after a record 47-day funding lapse.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the House will take up a measure passed by the Senate last week to fund most of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of September.

Republicans would then attempt to fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years using a party-line budget reconciliation bill that would not require support from Democrats.

"In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited," Thune and Johnson wrote.

The agreement comes nearly a week after House Republicans dismissed an identical plan, refusing to take up the Senate-passed measure and instead passing a 60-day short term funding bill for all of DHS that had little chance of overcoming Democratic opposition in the Senate.

Johnson called the agreement a "joke" and President Donald Trump declined to publicly endorse the deal. Trump had previously resisted any package that did not include his push to overhaul federal elections known as the Save America Act.

"I think any deal they make, I'm pretty much not happy with it," Trump told reporters last week.

Democrats welcomed the agreement as in line with their pledge not to give ICE any more money without reforms after immigration enforcement agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. But the deal does not include any of the policy demands Democrats are pressing for, such as a ban on masks for immigration enforcement officers and requiring warrants issued by a judge, not just the agency, to enter homes.

"For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement Wednesday. "Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered."

Trump seemed to bless the revived plan earlier Wednesday, writing on social media that he wants a party-line bill to fund immigration enforcement on his desk by June 1.

"We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won't be able to stop us," Trump wrote.

Despite the shutdown, ICE has been minimally impacted because Republican lawmakers approved $75 billion for ICE through another party-line budget reconciliation bill last year.

Congress is on a two-week recess, but the Senate and House could move to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP as early as Thursday using a procedure known as unanimous consent that allows the chambers to circumvent formal voting as long as no member objects.

Even during a recess when most members are not in Washington, this could be unpredictable, especially in the House, where many hard-line conservatives oppose a deal that does not fully fund DHS.

"Let's make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again," Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on X. "If that's the vote, I'm a NO."

If a member does object, that could require waiting for another vote when all members are back from recess.

Claudia Grisales contributed reporting.
Copyright 2026 NPR

California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season.

It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century.

Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave.

But experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains.

On Wednesday, state engineers conducting the symbolic April 1 snowpack measurement at Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe found no measurable snow in patches of white dotting the grassy field.

“I want to welcome you call to probably one of the quickest snow surveys we’ve had — maybe one where people could actually use an umbrella,” joked Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “We’re getting a lot of questions about are we heading into a hydrologic drought? The answer is, I don’t know.”

State data reports that California’s snowpack is closing out the season at an alarming 18% of average statewide, and an even more abysmal 6% of average in the northern mountains that feed California’s major reservoirs.

Only the extreme drought year of 2015 beat this year’s snowpack for the worst on record, measuring in at just 5% of average on April 1st, when the snow historically is at its deepest.

“I think everyone's anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.

“Without a snowpack, and with an early spring, it just means that there’s much more time for something like that to happen.”

‘It’s pretty bizarre up here’ 

In the city of South Lake Tahoe, which survived the massive Caldor Fire in the fall of 2021 without losing any structures, fire chief Jim Drennan said his department is already ramping up prevention efforts.

“It's pretty bizarre up here right now. It really seems like June conditions more than March,” Drennan said. “People are already turning the sprinklers on for their lawns.”

Without more precipitation, an early spring may complicate prescribed burning efforts. But Drennan said fire agencies in the Tahoe basin can start mechanically clearing fuels from forest areas earlier than usual.

“That means we can get more work done,” he said.

It also means homeowners need to start hardening their homes now, said Martin Goldberg, battalion chief and fuels management officer for the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which protects unincorporated communities in the Lake Tahoe Basin’s south shore.

Goldberg urges residents to scour their yards for burnable materials, create defensible space and reach out to local fire departments with questions. The risks are widespread — from firewood, wooden fences, gas cans, plants, pine needles — even lawn furniture stacked against a house.

“In years past, I wouldn't even think of raking and clearing until May,” Goldberg said. “But my yard's completely cleared of snowpack, and it has been for a couple weeks now.”

‘A haystack fire’

Battalion chief David Acuña, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said fire season is shaped by more than just one year’s snowpack.

Climate change has been remaking California’s fire seasons into fire years. And California’s recent average to abundant water years have fueled what Acuña called “bumper crops of vegetation and brush.”

“Most of California is like a haystack. And if you’ve ever seen a haystack fire, they burn very intensely because there's layers of fuel,” Acuña said.

Like Quinn-Davidson, Acuña wasn’t ready to make specific predictions about fires to come.

But John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced, said the temperatures and snowpack conditions this year offer a glimpse of California in the latter decades of this century, as fossil fuel use continues to drive global temperatures higher.

How this year’s fires will play out will depend on when, where and how wind, heat, fuel and ignitions combine. But it foreshadows the consequences of a warmer California for water and fire under climate change.

“This,” Abatzoglou said, “is yet another stress test for the future in the state.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.