When U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon claimed in USA TODAY that the recent government shutdown showed “how little the Department of Education will be missed,” she overlooked the damage done to the nation’s students, especially those with disabilities, who learn and think differently.

For students with disabilities, the impacts of the shutdown were real and immediate:

These are not disposable bureaucratic tasks, as McMahon claimed. They are federal responsibilities that ensure students receive what the law promises.

In March, the Education Department chief stated in a televised interview that she could not recall what the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) stands for. That moment matters.

IDEA is the cornerstone federal law protecting more than 7 million students with disabilities, which is 15% of all K–12 students. The idea that such a law can be shuffled to another agency, or that states can fully manage it alone, misunderstands both its complexity and its purpose.

McMahon’s argument that no one would miss the Department of Education depends on several assumptions: that all states have equal resources, that families can independently navigate complex systems and that federal protections – especially for students with disabilities – are optional. These assumptions do not align with the lived reality of American families.

Everybody understands that the Department of Education doesn’t take attendance, teach classes, coach sports or drive school buses – the core of McMahon’s straw-man argument. Its purpose is to ensure that all children, especially those with disabilities, have a fair chance at success, regardless of where they live.

What McMahon dismisses as........

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