The Unfinished Promise: 50 Years of IDEA and the Fight for Inclusion

 

The Unfinished Promise: 50 Years of IDEA and the Fight for Inclusion

 

I'm assuming you, the reader, believes in that big American idea: that everyone should have an equal shot… But making that happen? That's always been the real work.

 

And sometimes, the biggest fights  to help give that equal shot didn't happen in big protests; they happened right over the heads of kids, in the battle to get them a classroom desk.

 

This month, November 2025, the U.S. is marking a huge anniversary: 50 years of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). We need to celebrate it but also fight like heck to protect it.

 

To understand why IDEA matters so much, we should look back. Before 1975, it was totally different. There was no guarantee that kids with disabilities could even go to public school.

 

Think about that for a second. Millions of kids were legally shut out. They were institutionalized, kept home, or, if they were lucky, sent to separate, often run-down, rooms in the basement. They were denied the chance to learn, to grow up, and to build a life.

 

It wasn't about funding back then; it was about outright exclusion.

 

IDEA changed everything. It was a massive civil rights win that said, loud and clear: Every kid has the right to an education. LeDerick Horne, a poet who knows this fight well, said it best about the old system: "separate... has never been equal."

 

Fifty years later, IDEA is the backbone of our education system. It serves around 7.5 million students today.

 

What did we win? We won FAPE and the IEP. But the biggest win is inclusion. This means we must educate students with their peers as much as possible.

 

Inclusion isn't just a nice thing we do for a few students; it benefits everyone. It teaches compassion, builds a more diverse community, and, frankly, creates a better-prepared workforce. Thanks to IDEA, more people with disabilities are graduating, going to college, and becoming our colleagues.

 

Now, for the honest part: We know Congress hasn't kept its promise. They said they'd fund 40% of the extra cost for special education, and they never have. This forces our schools to constantly juggle budgets. We must keep fighting for that full funding.

 

But right now, the threat is bigger than just money. We’re seeing deep budget cuts to the Special Education Department in the Department of Education, and there’s serious talk about moving the whole department over to Health and Human Services (HHS).

 

In my opinion, we have to stop this. This isn't just moving boxes; this is erasing the civil rights foundation of the law.

 

Here’s why:

• The Department of Education focuses on access, learning, and equity. When IDEA is there, a disability is treated as a matter of equal access to an education.

• HHS focuses on health, treatment, and medical care. Moving it there pushes us back to the medical model of disability. 

 

Our students aren't patients. Our classrooms aren't clinics.

 

If special education moves to HHS, the focus will drift away from academic goals and towards medical services. It fractures the connection between special education and general education, putting us at huge risk of sliding backward—back to segregation, where services are separated and isolated, instead of integrated right into the learning environment.

 

To truly honor the 50th anniversary, we have to demand that this department stays exactly where it belongs: in the Department of Education, the place committed to guaranteeing equal access to learning for all children.

 

IDEA is more than a mandate; it’s a commitment to our shared humanity.

Let's remember LeDerick Horne's beautiful words one last time:

"each mind is beautiful strength has many forms and we are all able."

 

Your call to action today is simple: Speak up and protect the Civil Rights Model of Education. We need to be aware of the cuts and the threats to move the department. Every time you advocate for funding or inclusion, you are defending the progress of the last 50 years.

 

Let's make sure the next 50 years build on this incredible foundation, not tear it down.