ProPublica

Time and again, the U.S. Department of Education has been the last resort for parents who say the state of Idaho has failed to educate their children. In 2023, the federal agency ordered Idaho to stop blocking some students with learning disabilities, like dyslexia, from special education. That same year, it flagged that the state’s own reviews of districts and charters obscured the fact that just 20% were fully complying with the federal disability law. Last year, it told the state it must end long delays in services for infants and toddlers with disabilities, which could include speech or physical therapy. Now, President Donald Trump has pledged to dismantle the department. Idaho’s superintendent of public instruction, Debbie Critchfield, has celebrated the proposal. She insisted that the move would not change the requirement that states provide special education to students who need it. That would take an act of Congress. But parents and advocates for students with disabilities say they are worried that no one will effectively ensure schools follow special education law.