Mainers involved with Special Olympics programs said proposed federal funding cuts would devastate the state’s Unified sports, in which students with intellectual disabilities play alongside those without.
President Donald Trump’s Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, has proposed a budget that eliminates all $17.6 million of the department’s funding for the Special Olympics.
In Maine, where the vast majority of Special Olympics funding comes from other sources, DeVos’ cuts would mean federal grants to help schools launch Unified sports programs would go away.
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“For us this year, for a middle school team, for 25 kids, it’s going to be about $2,200, and we only played four games, and this grant allowed us to try it, see how it goes,” Bonny Eagle Middle School Unified coach Meredith Verrill told CBS 13. “That’s what the funding allows, giving them a chance to start.”
Sydney Owen, a Maine middle school student who serves as a “partner” athlete on a Unified team, told the Portland television station that she and her teammates are “partners every sense of the way.”
“We’re family, more than just being unified on a team,” she said.
[Betsy DeVos defends proposal to defund Special Olympics]
Special Olympics Maine spokeswoman Lisa Bird told CBS 13 that nearly 3,000 students are playing Unified sports in the state.
“Representing your school, regardless of who you are, is a very special thing for any student, but what makes it different is the high fives in the hallway,” she told the station. “These kids who have intellectual disabilities now have friends that they may have never had before.”
Members of Maine’s congressional delegation released statements Wednesday supporting Special Olympics programs in the face of the proposed cuts.
[Trump administration responds to outcry over Special Olympics cuts]
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said she’ll fight the cuts as a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
“The Trump administration is mistaken if they think Americans will stand for these outrageous cuts to Special Olympics,” she said.
“The Special Olympics are the best of us: communities coming together to support people with intellectual disabilities.” U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said. “Anyone who feels this isn’t a priority worth supporting in the federal budget has a different view of America than I do.”
