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Podcast

What’s at stake if federal oversight of IDEA weakens? | Episode 994 of The Education Gadfly Show

Elizabeth Yancy Bostic Michael J. Petrilli David Griffith, Ph.D.
11.12.2025
Elizabeth Yancy Bostic
 

This week, we’re joined by longtime special education advocate Elizabeth Yancy Bostic to discuss what could happen for students with disabilities if federal oversight and enforcement of IDEA are scaled back. Drawing on more than two decades of experience supporting families, including her own, as they navigate services, Elizabeth explains why strong oversight matters and what is at risk for students and districts when those safeguards erode.

Then, on the Research Minute, David Griffith shares a study from Sweden that tracks the long-term outcomes of students attending for-profit versus nonprofit charter high schools.

Recommended content: 

  • ‘Educational exile’: How Trump’s layoffs threaten students with disabilities —Susan Haas, Education Week
  • Federal special education staff may get their jobs back. But for how long? —Cory Turner, NPR
  • CRPE on special education: Great diagnosis, wrong prescription —Chester E. Finn, Jr., Thomas B. Fordham Institute
  • Schooling for Profit: Long-run Effects of Private Providers in Public Education —Petter Berg (2025) 

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our show? Send them to [email protected]

Elizabeth Yancy Bostic

Elizabeth (Beth) Yancy Bostic has over 20 years of experience as a Special Education Advocate, serving Massachusetts and New Hampshire families and as well as those relocating to Massachusetts from other states. As a parent of children with special needs, she understands the often daunting task of securing and coordinating appropriate academic, medical, functional and recreational supports and services. She is a trusted…

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President, Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Michael J. Petrilli is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, executive editor of Education Next, editor in chief of the Education Gadfly Weekly, host of the…

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David Griffith is the National Research Director at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, where he manages or authors reports on various subjects including charter schools, …

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