This week, the Department of Education laid off the people who enforce special education rights. Read that again. I’m not here to debate politics. I’m here because I’m a national education leader (former superintendent) and a dad of a child with special needs, and because I know exactly what offices like that do. They’re the ones who step in when a school stops providing speech therapy… when an evaluation gets “pushed to next semester”… when a child gets quietly left behind. And now those safety nets? Gone or gutted. Here’s the truth no headline will say: Most schools aren’t the enemy. They’re overwhelmed. But when federal oversight disappears, families are the only line of defense left. That’s why I keep saying: learn the word FAPE. Not “please help my child.” But “My child has a right to Free Appropriate Public Education.” Because if we don’t know how to speak the language of the system, our kids will pay the price of its silence. I’m not sounding an alarm. I’m handing you arm...