LANSING – In Erin Lewis’s classroom at Eton Academy in Birmingham, students sit at their desks with an assortment of sensory tools and fidgets spread around the room.
Lewis, a tenured teacher, doesn’t look at these items as toys.
Rather, they are essential tools that create a learning environment to help students with conditions like ADHD, autism and dyslexia stay focused.
Not every district in Michigan has the proper support for students with special needs, teachers and special education advocates like Lewis say, and schools are bracing for the impact of federal budget cuts by the Trump Administration and Congress.
They say they worry that students who need special education services will be overlooked and neglected for financial reasons.
“We have the resources to provide small class sizes and individualized attention,” Lewis said. “But in a public school with 25 or 30 kids, you simply can’t give every student that kind of support.”
Michigan already faces a teacher shortage, including special education teachers, a problem that is worse in districts that can’t afford to pay teachers the same salaries as wealthier areas.
For example, Alpena Public Schools reports unfilled positions for six special education teachers and two other teachers a month into the school year.
Education Week, a national publication that covers K-12 issues, recently reported on the cancellation of 25 ongoing projects related to special education.
The publication said the move by the U.S. Department of Education was “jeopardizing more than $30 million worth of federally funded efforts in 14 states to help educators better serve students with disabilities.”
Elyse Cook, another special education teacher from Eton Academy, says the additional resources she needs to teach students with disabilities are vital, and it’s difficult to maintain services with a thin budget.
“Students thrive off clear, consistent routines and high accountability. Neurodivergent students are no different,” Cook said. “I try to balance spontaneity and learning moments with high expectations and consistency.”
“It is important to me that students feel comfortable and know what to expect. This is especially needed for neurodivergent students who often struggle with change,” she said.
These resources better prepare special needs students for a world that is often overstimulating to them, and access to such resources is often limited in rural and lower-income districts across Michigan, special education advocates say.
Lewis said she is concerned that the federal budget cuts mean more pressure on overworked teachers in the U.S.
