Educators, researchers, and Department of Education employees say recent cuts under the Trump administration have significantly weakened federal oversight of special education and abruptly ended programs designed to support students with disabilities.
One of the programs affected is Charting My Path for Future Success, a federally funded initiative created to help students with disabilities prepare for life after high school. Last week, Tamara Linkow, senior director of education evaluation studies at American Institutes for Research, told The Independent that the federal government canceled funding for the program without warning.
The initiative focused on helping students in their final years of high school set goals, plan for adulthood, and develop skills needed for employment, education, and independent living.
“It consists of two different support programs for students at the end of high school to help them identify goals, plan those goals, and take action toward life after high school,” Linkow said.
The program had only recently begun implementation, working with instructors across 13 school districts nationwide and employing approximately 60 special education instructors during the current semester.
The research effort began in 2019. Catherine Fowler, a professor at University of North Carolina-Charlotte and director at the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: The Collaborative, said she had been involved since the project’s inception. She served as a district liaison last spring and summer, recruiting school districts to participate.
“Just as everything was really getting started, we were preparing for three semesters of intervention,” Fowler said. “That’s when we would have learned what was truly effective and been able to track students’ long-term outcomes after high school.”
Students with disabilities rely on the U.S. Department of Education to enforce their rights under federal laws that guarantee accommodations and individualized instruction plans. These protections include individualized education programs (IEPs) and Section 504 plans, which outline necessary academic and classroom accommodations.
However, Linkow said those directly involved in Charting My Path were forced to stop work almost immediately.
“The instructors had just started working with students,” she said. “They were about a month and a half in, depending on the district, and they had to stop overnight.”
The initiative was funded under a $45 million federal grant titled Evaluation of Transition Supports for Youth with Disabilities. The grant aimed to identify the most effective transition programs by strengthening students’ goal-setting, planning, and self-advocacy skills.
“This project was powerful because it gave students access to services, provided districts with trained instructors, and allowed researchers to learn what truly works,” said Karrie Shogren, a professor of special education at University of Kansas.
At the Canyons School District in Utah, the program served 88 11th-grade students across five high schools.
“The whole point was to study what works best in preparing students for life after high school,” said Kirsten Stewart, the district’s director of communications.
Following the funding termination, the district informed families that students would continue receiving the supports they had prior to joining the program and that other services would not be affected.
Stewart added that the district would attempt to absorb staffing losses where possible and noted that several special education positions remain open.
The funding cut is part of broader federal workforce reductions carried out under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an initiative associated with Elon Musk. Ironically, Shogren said the terminated program was designed to identify the most efficient and effective ways to support students with disabilities.
“This was an opportunity to figure out how to best support schools, teachers, and students so young people with disabilities can transition into adulthood, find jobs, and build careers,” she said.
The Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment.
Linkow said districts are now facing difficult decisions about whether they can keep instructors employed without federal funding.
“Some districts will have to let instructors go,” she said. “Others are trying to figure out if they can retain staff despite the funding being pulled.”
She added that she has not been given an explanation for the termination.
“This contract, like others, was terminated for convenience,” Linkow said. “And it was designed to be effective for students with a wide range of disabilities — from ADHD and dyslexia to autism and students who are non-verbal or physically disabled.”
Shogren said the cancellation has effectively halted her research and removed critical supports from schools.
“All of the supports going into schools were stopped,” she said. “The big question now is how we continue supporting students and teachers in providing these essential transition services.”
