UW-La Crosse program for students with disabilities loses critical federal grant

After 40 years of federal support, a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse program training teachers to provide physical education for students with disabilities will no longer receive a critical grant.

Future educators in the Adapted Physical Education program learn to work with students with physical and developmental disabilities by providing on-campus instruction for La Crosse-area families and through partnerships with local schools.

For decades, the program has competed for a personnel development grant through the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education programs, according to associate professor Brock McMullen, the program’s director. 

He said UW-La Crosse supports around 30 graduate students over the course of the five-year grant.

“These grants are specifically there to help support students who are interested in going back to school to get further training to work with kids with disabilities,” he said. “In my opinion, these grants are being used for a very noble purpose, with a very broad-reaching impact.”

The program was last awarded $1.25 million in 2020. McMullen said the university had sent in its application for the next round of funding last December. But in April, he was notified that the U.S. Department of Education was canceling the grant program for good because it did not “fit with the administration’s priorities.”

McMullen said the loss of federal funding is a blow for future students. He said UW-La Crosse’s program is one of only a handful in the Midwest offering the specialized training at the graduate level.

“We’ve had students from Texas to North Carolina, New York, Iowa, California,” he said. “The reason that they are interested in this program is many states actually have very little preparation for their students at the undergraduate level in adapted physical education.”

McMullen worries a decline in students could also affect the university’s ability to offer programming to local families.

Marlis O’Brien’s son Eric participated in the Adapted PE program for 17 years before aging out. He has 1p36 deletion syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects his fine and gross motor skills as well as his ability to speak.

O’Brien credits students in the Adapted PE program with helping Eric learn to ride a bike, swim and more.

“It gave us a chance to watch our son participate in sports, because there aren’t a lot of opportunities for special needs individuals,” she said. “I think it really helps the students prepare for life as an adaptive phy ed teacher, or for those that are regular phy ed teachers, it helps them learn how they can integrate kids with special needs into their regular classes.”

O’Brien said she had been hoping the grant program would be spared despite the myriad federal spending cuts under President Donald Trump. She worries the loss of grant funding will limit opportunities for other families.

McMullen said the program should be able to operate this summer and during the next academic year. But he said the future beyond that is uncertain.

“If we don’t have students here to help, then the number of kids that we can accept into our programming is going to have to be reduced,” he said. “We already have wait lists for a lot of what we offer on campus, and so the demand here in La Crosse is there.”