HONOLULU (KHON2) — When news broke that the federal government would eliminate its special education department, the effects rippled quickly across Hawaiʻi’s schools.
For families already balancing limited access to resources and support, some parents said the change has deepened anxiety and uncertainty about what comes next.
“It’s very scary,” said Shalini Solomon, contracted behavior analyst with Hawaiʻi Department of Education. “Parents are seeing that, and it’s scary because they are sending their children to school. For us working in the schools, it’s scary because we understand what this means for the limited resources.”
1. Fewer people, fewer resources
For Solomon, the first and most visible impact isn’t abstract policy; it’s people. Classrooms that once had a network of trained aides and assistants are now stretching to cover the same needs with fewer hands.
“We might need more people in the classroom,” she said. “That includes education assistants and paraprofessionals—people who help the teachers when you have students who have a disability or need, if it’s medical or behavioral.”
As Solomon sees it, the loss of the federal structure doesn’t just erase positions on paper—it disrupts the entire support chain that families and teachers depend on.
Without the federal oversight that funded and guided those roles, the hiring pipeline is shrinking and the classroom feels the strain almost immediately.
“We don’t have the funding or the space or the job posting for it,” Solomon said. The loss extends beyond staffing. Families who once relied on federal specialists to explain how Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) work may now be left to navigate on their own. “If those are diminishing away,” she said, “then now we don’t have that educational aspect getting out to our families.”
2. A growing sense of isolation
That loss carries a different kind of sting in Hawaiʻi, where distance from the mainland often turns federal decisions into local aftershocks. The separation—geographic and political—makes educators and families feel the effects more acutely, and more personally.
“Especially us here in Hawaiʻi,” Solomon said, “I feel like us being kind of far away from the mainland is kind of feeling a little bit like that forgotten.”
Without those upper-level federal roles, there’s less oversight and fewer people to ensure that laws protecting students with disabilities are followed.
“The mandating is becoming less,” Solomon said. “It’s going to be a trickle-down effect to us in that classroom setting.”
The consequences are already visible in classrooms, where students who once had access to specialized staff now face longer waits or fewer tailored supports. What used to be a team effort has become a scramble to fill gaps left by vanished positions.
“For example, there’s a position—oh, we had this position a few years ago, but we don’t have it anymore,” she said. “That might have been a specific resource for someone with maybe a specific disability or diagnosis.”
3. Finding strength in inclusion
Even with the uncertainty, Solomon said Hawaiʻi’s teachers are not standing still. Across campuses, she sees educators leaning into creativity and collaboration, finding ways to fill the gaps that funding and staffing have left behind.
“The good part from that is incorporating more inclusion,” she said. Teachers who are not trained in special education are learning to support students with disabilities in their classrooms. “We are getting them more educated,” Solomon said. “That means that I’m helping to educate those teachers that are not SpEd certified.”
She has also watched inclusion extend beyond the staff. In some schools, general education students step forward to assist in special education classrooms, creating small but meaningful bridges of understanding between peers.
“That little bit of education really does help,” Solomon said. “It’s helpful for both my kiddos I’m working with and the other students, just to know, hey, this student, they have a disability. They may not look like you, they may not talk like you, and that is okay.”
4. Where families can turn
When it comes to finding help, Solomon said the first step isn’t far away. Families don’t need to start with the federal government or even the state office — they can begin right at their child’s school, where answers are often closer than they realize.
“Start with your local school site,” she said. “If there’s something specific that a parent is looking for that they’re not finding, then maybe ask that school coordinator, ‘Hey, where can I find information about this?’”
If a school lacks a coordinator, she advises going directly to the teacher or the administrative team. “Continue in that way,” she said, “until you find the right person who can help.”
Even as she watches the federal framework unravel, Solomon’s focus stays local. She believes Hawaiʻi’s strength lies in its sense of ʻohana — the way schools, teachers, and families rally together when resources fall short.
“We get to see our community get closer and build stronger,” she said. “But it’s really tough to navigate as both myself working in the school and then working with these families.”