Parceling out the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 responsibilities to other agencies puts students with disabilities at risk by weakening federal enforcement of the laws that protect them and severing important connections between offices that help states and districts meet their needs, advocates said Wednesday.
They raised those fears a day after the Education Department announced plans to offload the duties of many of its offices to other federal agencies. Those offices include elementary and secondary education, which will see core responsibilities such as administering Title I and other key funding streams shift to the U.S. Department of Labor under an interagency agreement made without congressional approval.
鈥淲e think this risks going back to a time in which there wasn鈥檛 any oversight from the federal government,鈥� said Lindsay Kubatzky, the director of policy and advocacy at the National Center for Learning Disabilities. 鈥淲e know what happens when states are left to their own devices: students with disabilities are segregated.鈥�
The reorganization did not include the office of special education and rehabilitative services, though President Donald Trump has said previously that its responsibilities may be shifted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Education Department officials said Tuesday that plans to move that office and the office for civil rights are still under consideration.
Disability rights advocates believe U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon will carry out that plan soon as she seeks to radically downsize鈥攁nd eventually eliminate鈥攖he agency she leads. Though only Congress has the power to formally shutter the U.S. Department of Education and several of its offices that are written into law, the Trump administration has sought to reduce its footprint significantly by reducing staff.
McMahon has said those actions are necessary to return control of education to the states and eliminate wasteful spending. Only a fraction of U.S. spending on education鈥攍ess than a tenth鈥攃omes from federal sources, and the Education Department cannot set curriculum or run schools.
All of our education laws are like a woven fabric. When we start pulling on a string, it is going to start falling apart. At the very least, it鈥檚 going to weaken.
The concerns come as disability rights groups have urged Congress for months to increase its oversight of changes at the Education Department, including unilateral decisions to cut funding for programs, reduce staff, and close seven of 12 regional offices operated by the office for civil rights, which investigates legal complaints about schools鈥� treatment of students with disabilities. (About 33% of the 25,000 complaints OCR received in 2024 were related to disability rights, the agency said .)
They also come as the 50th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which ensured the inclusion and fair treatment of students with disabilities, approaches later this month. The law was last updated in 2004.
鈥淭he separation and fragmentation of K鈥�12 oversight, funding, and technical assistance is a direct threat to the integrated systems that are designed to serve all children in our nation鈥檚 schools,鈥� said Denise Marshall, CEO of The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates. 鈥淲e continue to call on Congress to provide oversight in the form of a hearing as soon as possible.鈥�
Concerns remain, even if special education programs aren鈥檛 moved
Moving special education oversight to HHS would risk a return to the 鈥渕edical model,鈥� under which disabilities are seen as 鈥渃onditions to be solved or cured鈥� rather than needs that schools must thoughtfully address to ensure students with disabilities can learn alongside their peers in the most inclusive settings possible, said Robyn Linscott, the director of education and family policy for The Arc of the United States, an organization that advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
But even if special education oversight remains under the Education Department, the fragmentation caused by this week鈥檚 reorganization will add more red tape for states and put key laws that affect students with disabilities under multiple agencies, Linscott said.
The office of special education programs oversees implementation of IDEA. But the Every Student Succeeds Act鈥攖he nation鈥檚 primary K-12 education law, which is overseen by the office of elementary and secondary education鈥攁lso includes significant provisions related to special education, like a requirement that states test most students with disabilities alongside their regular education peers and address disparities in their achievement and progress.
鈥淎ll of our education laws are like a woven fabric,鈥� Linscott said. 鈥淲hen we start pulling on a string, it is going to start falling apart. At the very least, it鈥檚 going to weaken.鈥�
The Education Department has already significantly reduced staff through layoffs and buyouts this year. It terminated an additional 465 staff members, including those overseeing special education programs, through a reduction in force during the October government shutdown. A bill Congress passed to reopen the government reversed those layoffs (which a court had already put on hold), but the moves have already affected staffing and services, said Carrie Gillespie, the project director of early development and disability at New America, a left-leaning think tank.
Fewer staff, she said, are left to navigate a 鈥渓abyrinth鈥� of complicated processes as responsibilities shift to other agencies, she said. And without careful plans to ensure staffing, training, and the preservation of institutional knowledge, some key federal responsibilities could get lost in the transition, Gillespie said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 fewer people cutting through more red tape now,鈥� she said.
States rely on strong support and guidance from the federal government to carry out their special education obligations, Linscott said. Eighteen of 50 state special education directors are new this year, she said, and there鈥檚 been significant turnover in that position since COVID-19, increasing the need for federal support.
鈥淚f we are left with a maze of different agencies handling this, who is truly accountable when a student is failed?鈥� Linscott said. 鈥淲here does the buck stop?鈥�
