Peninsula Press

Special Education student Joseph Reed never imagined he would lose his work-study job opportunity at the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year due to President Donald Trump’s funding cuts to K-12 education. “I was bummed,” said Reed. “I was sad and disappointed that [I] couldn’t work no more.” Reed is currently a freshman at Bay University, a special education adult transition program, which serves students aged 18 to 22 with moderate to severe developmental disabilities within the San Mateo Union High School District. This four-year program teaches students the social and vocational skills needed to live and work independently. Other than teaching students fundamental working and living skills, Reed and his peers were also guaranteed a paid work-study job under the Transition Partnership Program, a statewide initiative created by the California Department of Rehabilitation and Local Education Agencies to help special education students transition from school to work by offering vocational training, job preparation, and short-term employment support, according to the California Department of Rehabilitation website. Equipped with real-world working experience from the Transitional Partnership Program, most students were able to secure their jobs soon after graduation. But now, as the program’s work hours have been reduced from a 200-hour limit a year to a 120-hour limit in six years due to the funding cut, many students have reached their hour limit long before graduation, losing both a stable source of income and a stepping stone toward their future employment.