On Friday April 4, COPAA along with 47 disability advocacy partners in the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities (CCD) sent a letter to Capitol Hill asking Senate and House appropriations and authorizing committee leaders to “take no action” through the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations bills” or through other legislative proposals to “weaken, dismantle and/or move key education programs” from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to Health and Human Services (HHS). Specifically, the disability community told Republican and Democrat Chairs and Ranking Members that any proposal to move programs authorized under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and other education laws “segregates students with disabilities from school-based resources and support” promoting a “medical model of disability that could only lead to stigmatizing, segregating, and “othering” children with disabilities.” CCD also notes that such actions will “segregate students with disabilities from bipartisan programs authorized under [other critically important] education and career access laws…that were intentionally aligned by Congress to support educational equity and access for students with disabilities to K-16 education, career training, and employment opportunities alongside their peers.” To learn more about the Administration’s executive action proposing to move IDEA programs to HHS and to access resources, visit COPAA’s new web page.