Trump is shifting special ed, civil rights out of Education Department. Here's what we know
The Education Department is handing off two of its most important functions, giving oversight of special education and civil rights to other agencies. With the latest moves, the department will have offloaded the vast majority of its duties.
Dissolving the department entirely requires an act of Congress. Still, the latest developments bring the administration significantly closer to fulfilling President Donald Trump’s pledge to shut down the Education Department, which he says will give education “back to the states.”
The administration is framing Tuesday’s moves as a partnership between federal agencies intended to reduce bureaucracy. The Justice Department will handle civil rights enforcement in schools, and the Department of Health and Human Services will oversee special education. The Justice Department will also manage work involving student privacy protections.
How the Education Department handles civil rights, special education
When parents believe their child is facing discrimination at school, and when local officials fail to fix it, families often turn to the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights as a last resort. The office investigates complaints filed by students, parents and advocacy groups alleging civil rights violations at schools, colleges and universities that get federal money. It also occasionally will initiate an investigation on its own.
Based on an investigator’s findings, the department may force the school to fix the problem. Schools that refuse risk losing federal money.
The office investigates a wide range of complaints, including allegations of discrimination based on race, sex, religion and disability status. As examples, a complaint may point to unequal treatment of girls and boys in sports, or it may claim a school mishandled sexual assault allegations. It might say a school is disciplining students of one race more harshly than another.
The Trump administration has used the Office for Civil Rights for its own purposes, forcing schools to comply with its views on diversity, equity and inclusion. Some schools and colleges have closed DEI offices and abandoned efforts to close achievement gaps between white students and their Black and Latino peers. The Office for Civil Rights also has enforced the administration’s efforts to push transgender athletes out of sports.
For special education, the Education Department indirectly plays a critical role in the lives of students with disabilities, distributing billions of dollars to schools.
The department’s special education office ensures states comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which guarantees access to education for disabled students. It also supports special vocational programs and career counseling for young people with disabilities. The office once employed around 200 people and now employs about 121.
Which education programs have gone to other agencies
Trump campaigned on dismantling the department. Last March, shortly after the confirmation of Education Secretary Linda McMahon, the administration enacted major reductions in the Education Department workforce, cutting its staff roughly in half.
The Education Department has since been handing off various operations, including massive grant programs, through a series of interagency agreements.
Work that’s already been reassigned includes Title I funding for schools serving low-income communities, as well as smaller funding pools for teacher training, English instruction and a college-access program known as TRIO. These programs are now at the Labor Department.
