The Trump administration moved Tuesday to transfer oversight of special education programs serving students with disabilities to the Department of Health and Human Services, marking its most sweeping restructuring yet of the Education Department through administrative action rather than legislation.
The shift targets the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, which distributes $15 billion annually and enforces the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. Alongside this transfer, the administration plans to move the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights to the Justice Department, consolidating school civil rights enforcement under the latter.
Education Department leadership framed the moves as efficiency gains. "These agreements align federal responsibilities with the agencies best positioned to support them, strengthening the effectiveness and impact of critical services," said Education Secretary Linda McMahon in a statement.
The administration is using interagency agreements, tools traditionally employed for purchasing supplies or leasing space between federal agencies, to execute the transfers without congressional action. Formally dismantling the Education Department would require legislation, which has stalled in Congress. Disability advocacy groups have similarly argued that moving the special education office also requires legislative authorization.
This is not the administration's first such maneuver. Over the past year, the Education Department has already transferred $28 billion in elementary and secondary education funding, $3 billion in postsecondary education grants, and $2.6 billion in career and technical education programs to the Labor Department. The Interior Department now manages the Office of Indian Education, while the State Department and Health and Human Services oversee additional education initiatives.
Critics say the strategy circumvents democratic process. Rachel Gittleman, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, which represents roughly 2,000 Education Department workers, called the moves unlawful. "This will leave our most vulnerable students and families who have been shut out of our education system without the services they need and without protection when they face discrimination," Gittleman said. "This isn't efficiency; it's chaos."
Education Department officials told stakeholders that students, parents, and educators will experience no disruption in services, though specific implementation details remain sparse. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has previously signaled readiness to assume management of the disability office, stating his agency was "fully prepared" for the responsibility.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Using administrative workarounds to dismantle a cabinet department while Congress sleeps is a high-stakes gambit that will almost certainly face legal challenge."
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