In a July 13, 2026 letter to federal legislators, 13 former federal officials who were responsible for overseeing special education implementation in states and districts urged Congress to reject the U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) plans to move programs serving students with disabilities to another federal agency.
The letter’s authors are former officials who served under every presidential administration since President Richard Nixon, including during the first President Donald Trump administration, but not for the second Trump administration. According to the letter, efforts to shift special education responsibilities to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “dismantles, rather than relocates, the federal infrastructure built over five decades” of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
It also expressed concern that moving special education programs from the USDE’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to HHS would deprioritize students’ educational needs. In fact, according to the letter, “Moving IDEA’s implementation into a health agency risks substituting medical management for educational access.”
In June, the USDE announced four interagency agreements, including one to move certain special education activities to HHS. USDE also stated it was transferring some civil rights activities from its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
In total, the USDE has publicly announced 14 interagency agreements with six other federal agencies. The agreements come as the Trump administration works to eliminate the USDE.
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