Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin, and Assistant Secretary for the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) Kimberly Richey visited Winding Creek Elementary School in Stafford, Virginia to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) being signed into law.
Secretary McMahon, alongside Governor Youngkin and Assistant Secretary Richey, participated in an IDEA birthday celebration with students and delivered remarks about the importance of IDEA. They also highlighted Winding Creek’s success in serving students with disabilities, which make up approximately 12.5% of Winding Creek’s student population. These students are exceeding state reading, science, and history proficiency targets, with disabled students’ history proficiency percentages rising from 56% to 78% in the past three years. Secretary McMahon and Assistant Secretary Richey toured classrooms and observed experienced special and general education teachers collaborating to provide high-quality instruction based on the science of reading, and specialized supports and interventions to students in small groups. The tour included several classrooms where children with and without disabilities were learning grade-level content together.
“It was an honor to visit students today alongside Governor Youngkin and Assistant Secretary Richey to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act – a landmark piece of legislation which has transformed public education for children with disabilities and their families,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “We are encouraged by Winding Creek’s success in delivering innovative and effective services to students with disabilities. As we look ahead to the next fifty years of IDEA, the Trump Administration is committed to ensuring all students have equal access to an education that meets their individual and unique needs.”
“Since Day One, our administration has worked to restore excellence in education so that every student is on track for success. Nowhere is that more important than in our work to support our students with special needs,” said Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin. “When we came into office, the Commonwealth was under federal monitoring and embroiled in a lawsuit due to the prior lack of responsiveness to families of children with disabilities. Today, thanks to collaborative efforts with the General Assembly to make record investments and the diligence and hard work of the Virginia Department of Education to implement best practices in every aspect of special education, parents are now more engaged and informed, and Virginia is a national leader in dispute resolution. As we celebrate 50 years of IDEA, I want to thank the parents, teachers, administrators, and, of course, the students, for their tremendous commitment to educational excellence for everyone.”
Background
IDEA was signed into law on November 29, 1975, making a free, appropriate public education available to eligible children with disabilities across the nation. IDEA funds formula grants to States to provide special education and related services for eligible children with disabilities and early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families, and funds discretionary grants to support the implementation of the law.