Trump administration makes widespread funding cuts to disability programs across Oregon

By BRYCE DOLE and KATHRYN STYLER MARTINEZ/Oregon Public Broadcasting

The U.S. Department of Education is ending grants to programs across Oregon that support students with disabilities, citing practices related to diversity, equity and inclusion.

The cuts could make it harder for disabled students and their families to access help, especially in some of Oregon’s poorest rural communities.

The Trump administration cut funds for a statewide program that supports deaf and blind students in districts from Portland to Southern Oregon.

It moved to end a grant to Western Oregon University for its DeafBlind Interpreting National Training and Resource Center, pointing to its equity policies and writing in an Aug. 27 memo that the administration “has determined that continuation of the project is not in the best interest of the Federal Government.”

The Central Oregon Disability Support Network, which serves more than 4,000 families, also saw its funding cut because of a “conflict with the Department’s policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education,” according to a memo the nonprofit received. The funding was earmarked for helping students with disabilities and their families navigate special education programs.

The Central Oregon group’s 2021 application noted that it was continuing “to actively pursue professional development related to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Many applications for the federal funding received approval during President Joe Biden’s administration, which often made requirements around equity to receive government funding. The Donald Trump administration has largely opposed those efforts.

The change of course has left some nonprofits like the Central Oregon Disability Support Network in the middle.

“They basically are using the response to the questions that they asked us against us,” said Dianna Hansen, executive director of CODSN.

Hansen said their grant-funded trainings help staff and board members understand deep poverty in their service area, which includes Crook, Jefferson, Deschutes, Wheeler, Harney, Grant, Lake and Klamath counties.

All but two of these counties have a child poverty rate higher than the state’s average, according to a recent study released Tuesday by The Ford Family Foundation and Oregon State University Extension Service.

“The Trump Administration’s claims to care about the next generation fall flat against the reality that it’s ripping resources out of the hands of students in Oregon and across the nation,” U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley said in a statement Thursday. “This latest attack on critical federal funding for families navigating disability support in rural communities is a stark example of the Administration’s cruelty.”

The Department of Education did not immediately respond to OPB’s request for comment.

Jennifer Stephens’ son, Daniel, goes to school in the Redmond School District. When Daniel was in kindergarten, Stephens said a family counselor recommended the Disability Support Network as it became clear that Daniel would need an individualized education program and accommodations in the classroom.

She said an advocate responded and showed up the next day with a binder, worksheets, templates and even a glossary to help Stephens understand the complexities of special education.

“There’s so much,” she said.

Special education is hard to navigate for parents, Hansen said.

“There’s nothing more intimidating than sitting in your own child’s (individualized education program meeting),” she said. “You sit there and you hear all the things they can’t do, won’t do, probably will never do. So, that’s hard.”

Stephens said that no matter how positive she feels or how much preparation and homework she’s done with her care team, she ends up crying and feeling emotional every time she meets with the school about her son’s needs.

“It’s just a very intense experience,” she said.

Rep. Cliff Bentz, a Republican who represents nearly all of the nonprofit’s coverage area, was not immediately available for comment, a spokesperson told OPB Wednesday.

Stephens said she wrote to Bentz on Wednesday, asking him to support the Disability Support Network’s appeal to the Department of Education.

The cuts prompted Rep. Janelle Bynum, whose district includes parts of Central Oregon, to write a letter to the Education Department Thursday. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both D-Ore., also signed the letter, calling on the federal government to reinstate the funding.

“In many of these areas, disability services are scarce and accessing the few services that are available often means driving several hours one way,” the letter said, adding that the nonprofit helps “fill this gap.”

“Terminating this grant fundamentally undercuts that mission and leaves thousands of rural families, who are already too often overlooked, without a lifeline they have come to trust and depend on to ensure their children’s success,” the letter said.

In a statement to OPB Thursday morning, Wyden pledged to work to restore the nonprofit’s funds.

“Any time Donald Trump and his cabinet of disgraceful lickspittles is said to have hit rock bottom for cruelty, there’s sadly always more to come,” Wyden said. “Ripping away help for children in rural Oregon with disabilities adds yet one more pathetic page to the Trump playbook of colossus inhumanity.”