Parents' concerns rise as efforts to dismantle DOE continue
MADISON, Ala. (WHNT) — Julia Pope is the mother of 10-year-old Gunner and 5-year-old Garrett; both were diagnosed with autism.
It's a diagnosis she worried could bring major struggles at school, but she quickly learned of the support Madison City Schools offers.
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'I can't go on and on more about both my children's progress in the last year,' Pope said.
Her sons receive individualized help at school ranging from occupational to speech therapy. Treatment Julia said helped her boys in the classroom and at home, courtesy of therapists on staff at the school. She said the endless support was helpful, especially with her oldest son Gunner.
'I didn't really have much of a relationship with him because I couldn't communicate with him,' Pope said. 'She changed our lives. She gave me a relationship with my son.'
Pope worries the progress she's seen in her boys could stop with the Trump Administration taking major steps to shut down the U.S. Department of Education.
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'It's all so up in the air right now,' Pope said. 'It's very gray in a world of black and white at the moment, in terms of education. No parent with a child with special needs has been sleeping easily the last few weeks.'
Pope added that if parents had to search for treatments and therapies on their own, the costs would quickly add up, forcing some families to forego the process altogether.
'No doubt we're already pretty financially strapped in terms of having to pay for ABA therapy four times a week, every week,' Pope said. 'I know people who have had to remortgage their homes to get ABA therapy for their child. I genuinely don't know what I would do without the support that I received from the school systems. And to think that they could potentially be going away is definitely something to lose sleep over'
While Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said funding for programs like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act will stay, Pope said she and other parents aren't convinced it will remain intact.
'It's very disheartening to see,' Pope said. 'And I'm getting a message from a different mom every day being like, have you seen this? Have you seen this? And I'm like, yeah. And it's worrisome. It's worrisome.'
Pope started a support group called Madison County Parents of Children with Special Needs, saying parents in this situation are leaning on one another now more than ever.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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