The Trump administration on Tuesday announced it will move two of the Education Department's core functions to other agencies, transferring special education oversight to the Department of Health and Human Services and civil rights enforcement to the Department of Justice. With the changes, officials said, the department has now carved away the vast majority of the work it once handled.
The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, which manages billions of dollars in grants under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and oversees state compliance, will move to HHS. The Office for Civil Rights — which investigates complaints of discrimination based on race, sex, disability and religion at schools and universities — will move to the Justice Department, along with work protecting student privacy and some training and advisory services for schools.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon defended the reorganisation. 'The Trump Administration has been clear: as we scale back federal micromanagement when it hinders success, we are equally committed to bolstering the efficacy of federal oversight where it is essential,' she said, framing the moves as aligning responsibilities with the agencies 'best positioned to support them.'
Advocacy groups reacted with alarm. EdTrust warned the transfers would 'undermine accountability' and disproportionately harm vulnerable students — including children with disabilities, Black and Latino students, and those from low-income families. Rachel Gittleman, who leads the union representing department employees, said the changes would 'leave our most vulnerable students and families without the services they need and without protection when they face discrimination.'
The two offices have long sat at the heart of the federal government's role in education. The civil rights office adjudicates thousands of discrimination complaints each year, while the special education office is central to enforcing the rights of children with disabilities — functions that critics say are not easily replicated at agencies without the same expertise.
The reorganisation is the latest step in the administration's broader effort to dismantle the Education Department, which was established as a Cabinet-level agency in 1979. Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee have called the campaign an illegal attempt to unwind a department created by Congress, and similar moves have drawn legal challenges.
Advocates and school officials said the immediate practical concern is continuity: families who rely on the offices for help could face gaps in communication and uncertainty over where to turn as responsibilities are split between two large departments with no track record in the work.