Trump further guts Education Dept. by shifting oversight of special ed, civil rights
By Jonaki Mehta, Cory Turner
Two of the U.S. Department of Education's biggest responsibilities will shift to other federal agencies: safeguarding student civil rights and administering programs for students with disabilities.
The Trump administration said Tuesday it will move much of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). OSERS manages programs that support students with disabilities, offering guidance and oversight to ensure states follow the landmark Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a law that guarantees disabled students access to an equitable public education.
The administration announced it would also move much of the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). OCR's staff of civil rights lawyers are tasked with protecting students in K-12 schools and universities from discrimination based on disability, gender, race and national origin. OCR has been in tumult for months, targeted repeatedly by the Trump administration for staff cuts, then reversals of those cuts.
The moves to HHS and DOJ would further dismantle an agency that President Donald Trump has vowed to close, and it would leave the Education Department with a shrinking number of responsibilities. For example, much of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education — the department's K-12 workhorse — was already moved to the U.S. Department of Labor.
In a press release, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said of shifting special education programs: "Through our partnership with HHS, we will align federal services with the goal of strengthening academic outcomes and supporting individuals with disabilities so that they can achieve greater independence, key life skills, and meaningful employment."
And of moving civil rights enforcement, McMahon said the partnership between OCR and the Justice Department would "ensure stronger, more coordinated civil rights enforcement and robust protections for student privacy."
The Trump administration announced the moves as "partnerships" between the Education Department, HHS and the Justice Department, though, in a call with reporters, senior department officials who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity were vague on how these new arrangements would affect current staff. With some previous interagency agreements, Education Department staff have simply been moved, along with their responsibilities, from one physical office to another.
According to the text of the agreements, which were obtained by NPR, HHS would do much of the work of administering formula grant programs related to IDEA while the Education Department would continue to provide management and leadership, likely because the law requires that these responsibilities still be overseen by the Education Department.
These moves are the latest effort in McMahon's self-described push to "peel back the layers of federal bureaucracy by partnering with agencies that are better suited to manage programs and empowering states and local leaders to oversee the rest."
However a former employee who worked at OSERS for more than a decade and left earlier this year argued the changes could make the agency less efficient and effective: "This isn't a late-model Toyota that you can sell for parts and get the best bang for your buck." They added OSERS "ensures that your children, your family's children, your neighbors' children — any child with a disability — gets to attend a public school and gets to have access to the same school that their non-disabled peers have."
Another former OSERS staffer told NPR, "my stomach drops for children and parents." The employee, who is the parent of an adult with disabilities added, "this move would separate out oversight of the implementation of IDEA and it would decimate civil rights protections that have been in place for more than 50 years." Both former OSERS employees spoke to NPR on the condition of anonymity because they fear professional repercussions for speaking publicly about this issue.
"No logical sense"
For months, as rumors swirled about a move to HHS, disability rights advocates have pushed back.
"This is another vindictive attempt to undermine public education," said Denise Forte, president and CEO of EdTrust, a think tank focused on addressing education inequity. "And at this moment, when we know that children with disabilities need more support, not less — HHS is not the place for that."
Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) told NPR, "There is no logical sense why anyone would move [students with disabilities] under HHS." She added, "We're not going to all of a sudden go to our surgeon to learn how to read."
IDEA is "an education law," said Chad Rummel, CEO of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). "That means we need to have special education interacting with all of education at the department, not over here on its own in a medical environment."
Rummel added that he's worried the administration is trying to strip away federal oversight of special education.
However, in a letter obtained by NPR, Kimberly Richey, assistant secretary for civil rights, and Kelly Rogers, acting assistant secretary for OSERS, reassured members of the disability community that the work of OSERS and OCR would not be disrupted. They wrote the two teams "will continue to partner together, just as they always have, to vigorously enforce the law to ensure states and schools are in compliance."
Rummel may have reason for concern, based on what's outlined in Project 2025, a policy blueprint for a second Trump administration developed by the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Right now, states have to apply for IDEA funding through OSERS. But Project 2025 proposes that "most IDEA funding should be converted into a no-strings formula block grant targeted at students with disabilities and distributed directly to local education agencies by Health and Human Service's Administration for Community Living."
The author of that section, Lindsey Burke, now works at the department, helping guide its dismantling from the inside.
One of the former OSERS employees told NPR that staffers at the department who have been working on special education services have spent decades building expertise on how best to serve students with disabilities. "HHS does not have that. It's medically oriented," the person said. "They may look at a child with a disability from the perspective of what medication they are taking or what their pathology is as opposed to 'How can this young baby, who's going to be an adult, thrive as an individual?'"
The other former OSERS employee noted that last year marked the 50th anniversary of IDEA, the law that created special education and made clear to states and schools that children with disabilities have a fundamental right to an education. With this move, they said, "I'm really concerned that we are going to go 50 years backwards."
As for moving OCR to the Justice Department, "it's a terrible idea," warned Catherine Lhamon, who previously ran the office under two different presidents, Obama and Biden, saying Justice has "no interest and no expertise in doing the kind of work that OCR does."
Lhamon pointed out that OCR existed before the creation of the Education Department, in 1979, and that it was Congress that voted to move it into the new agency "where everyone is focused on the school context. And the people in the Office for Civil Rights get to use their expertise to ensure that every student in every school every day experiences the guarantee that Congress promised."
Kenneth Marcus, who ran OCR during the first Trump administration, was more optimistic. In a statement he said: "Much will depend on implementation … but if done right, this could mark a critical step forward for students whose rights have gone unprotected on campuses across the country. The key issue is whether this will enable the Justice Department to more seamlessly cooperate on potential civil rights litigation and pursue enforcement when necessary."
Are moves like this legal?
Federal law requires that OSERS exist — and that it exist within the U.S. Department of Education. To get around that requirement, and to keep from having to get consent from Congress, the administration appears to be doing what it did in November, with other department responsibilities.
Late last year, the administration announced it would shift work dedicated to, among other things, elementary and secondary education, postsecondary education and Indian education to other federal agencies. All three offices were placed at the department by Congress when it created the agency in 1979, and the moves were made without Congress' consent.
In briefing lawmakers and staff about those November moves, the administration insisted that these programs' statutory responsibilities would remain at the department; it was simply outsourcing day-to-day operations to other agencies.
A small contingent of top staff would remain behind, at the Education Department, to continue to oversee these programs.
