At the Attachment & Trauma Network (ATN), we are deeply alarmed by the federal government’s decision to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, including its Special Education division, and by the recent resurgence of rhetoric and executive orders promoting “zero tolerance” and “tough discipline” in schools.
The reduction in workforce has gutted key offices—including the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), and the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which are responsible for administering, funding, and overseeing the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and enforcing civil rights laws. These cuts will impact more than 8 million school children nationwide through lost access to funds, implementation guidance for programs, and enforcement of laws that ensure education is accessible to all. These actions do more than threaten programs or budgets. They endanger children. They undermine over 50 years of progress toward evidence-based education, equity, inclusion, and trauma-informed practice, and they signal a return to systems that punish pain instead of understanding and healing it.
What’s at Stake
For generations, children with disabilities and children impacted by trauma have been misunderstood, mislabeled, and excluded. Federal special education protections were hard-won and created to ensure that all students have access to safe, equitable, and individualized learning environments.
The dissolution of this department, combined with fear-based and exclusionary approaches to school discipline, represents a step backward that will harm children. Research shows that school suspension and expulsion, seclusion, restraint, and corporal punishment traumatize many children, worsen child health and disability in the short- and long-term, and increase the likelihood of school dropout, incarceration, and a lifetime of poverty. Such punishment also harms other children in the school environment by diminishing their felt safety.
We know better now.
We know that behavior is communication.
We know that punitive responses reinforce and inflict trauma and widen achievement gaps.
We know that when we lead with compassion and neuroscience instead of control and compliance, children can thrive and heal.
ATN’s Position
- We believe every child deserves to be understood, supported, and educated.
- We believe that connection and belonging, not punishment, are what create safety.
- We believe that trauma-informed schools are the future of education, not a trend.
- Now is the time to protect that future.
We call on educators, policymakers, and community leaders across the nation to:
- Defend and strengthen federal special education protections and oversight.
- Reject policies and rhetoric that exclude and criminalize children’s pain.
- Invest in trauma-informed, healing-centered frameworks and supports that honor the humanity of every learner.
Take Action
We encourage you to reach out to your US Representative and Senators to urge them to protect children with disabilities and those impacted by trauma and protect IDEA. You can draft your own letter or tailor one of these messages below.
Here is a fact sheet about the roles of Federal & State Governments in Special Education.
Here’s a fact sheet about the importance of OSEP’s work.
Our Commitment
ATN remains unwavering in our mission to help schools become places of belonging, regulation, and repair.
We will:
- Continue to equip educators with trauma-informed and inclusive practices.
- Advocate for policies that reflect what science and compassion already affirm.
- Amplify the voices of families and students most affected by these harmful shifts.
A Final Word
We cannot claim to support children while dismantling the systems that protect them.
We cannot call schools “safe” while normalizing punishment, exclusion, seclusion, restraint, corporal punishment, and police brutality.
Empathy must be embedded in policy, and equity must be embedded in practice.