Malini, Paul, & Meredith Will Stand Up for Special Services
Click Here for SEPAC (Special Education Parent Advisory Council)
Click Here for South Orange Maplewood School District Special Services
Statement from SOMSD Board of Education Candidates: Malini, Paul, and Meredith
On Friday October 11th, it was reported that hundreds of pink slips were handed out within the U.S. Department of Education. In September of 2023, there were 4,166 full and part time staffers. In September of 2025, there were 2,447. As of Friday, there are only 2,001 staffers left.
Rachel Gittleman, the president of the union that represents federal Education Department employees, has stated “This Reduction in Force doubles down on the harm to K-12 students and schools across the country, which are already feeling the impacts of a hamstrung Office for Civil Rights from the March Reduction in Force.”
Even more concerning, she warned, “If this Reduction in Force is carried out, the Department of Education can no longer administer IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).”
The Department of Education is responsible for sending to every local school district the Federal funds to which we are entitled, including general ESSA Title II funds, Title I funds for low income schools, and the crucially important IDEA funds for special education. Without USDOE staff to adequately administer these programs, we are increasingly at risk of that money coming late or not at all.
For students with special education needs, these delays are not abstract—they are real. A delay or loss of this funding could have tangible impacts, like loss of services, if we do not have budget expertise on the Board to plan for this.
This administration continues to threaten our neighbors and put our most vulnerable populations at risk. Of course our local BOE can’t fix the chaos taking place in our federal government. However, we can commit to you as Listen Learn Lead - Malini, Paul, and Meredith - we will do everything in our power to protect our students from these federal attacks. This includes encouraging responsible management of our finances — increasing our reserves to handle contingencies and creating a budget that can withstand not receiving our full federal funding. We believe advocacy at the state level is crucial and will encourage the BOE to keep pressure on state officials to provide strong funding for education. We are also lucky to have organizations like SOMA Action — an organization created in response to Trump‘s election in 2016 — working hard to put responsible progressive leaders in government at the state and federal levels who care about public education.
We stand with and will fight for our families, our teachers, and every student who relies on a strong, well-funded public education system.
