In 1975 my husband and I were hired as foster parent/group home managers in a joint venture between the local ARC and the child welfare in our state. We became foster parents in a therapeutic home to two children with developmental disabilities.

That same year, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was passed. This is a “law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children, supports early intervention services for infants and toddlers and their families, and awards competitive discretionary grants.”

Prior to this law, many children who were differently abled were not guaranteed an education. Rather many were either left unschooled at home or placed in institutions.

One of my first foster children came straight from an institution where he had been placed at the age of 6, we got him at age 11. With today’s understanding and the wide range of services available, he never would have been placed in an institution far removed from people of his age, his family, and any sense of normalcy.

However after the passage of this law all children were guaranteed to receive a free and appropriate education. This is the law that created the Individual Educational Plan (IEP).

The IEP creates an opportunity for teachers, parents, school administrators, related services personnel, and students (when appropriate) to work together to improve educational results for children with disabilities. We were able to enroll the children in the public school in our area, where they went to school with other children. To all the families with a child with special needs, this was a huge success and commitment to our children.

In addition to the protection of a free and appropriate education for all children, the Department oversees research on most aspects of education; collects data on trends, and gathers information to help identify best practices in education including teaching techniques that have been found to be successful. The department also oversees Pell grants and student loan programs that allow economically challenged students to gain a higher education. About a third of the students enrolled in higher education receive Pell grants. Without such financial assistance many would be unable to continue their education.

The department of Education does not develop curriculum, that is done by the state and local governments.

The Department of Education oversees two huge funding sources for schools — funding for students with special needs and additional funds for schools with a high percentage of economically disadvantaged students. I want to call the reader’s attention to this last funding source. Under Title 1 of the department of education, supplemental financial assistance is provided to school districts with a high percentage (40%) of students from low-income families. Its purpose is to provide all children a significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education, and to close educational achievement gaps by allocating federal funds for education programs and services.

Let me call to your attention how much money our schools in our area receive under Title I and would have to be picked up — hello by you and me — the taxpayer if these funds were eliminated: Brocton, $260,110; Cassadaga Valley, $323,301; Dunkirk, $1,581,809; Fredonia. $380,149; Silver Creek, $307,866; Jamestown, $4,054,959.

There are many more schools in our area that also receive Title 1 funding which you can easily find online.

So who in Dunkirk is willing to come up with a million and a half ? How much higher do you think taxes would go to cover this? How about Jamestown, yikes they would have to come up with $4 million. None of us want our taxes to go up any higher do we?

Take note, we the people still have power.

If you see the Department of Education as adding valuable resources for all students … and you don’t want to see the funding cut, call your representative Nick Langworthy and your Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. Tell them no cuts or elimination of a department that serves us all.

Let us hope for the good of our children — and our pocketbooks the department of education goes untouched.

Judi Lutz Woods is a Fredonia resident.