The debate over the future of special education has grown urgent as the Trump administration continues to shift responsibilities away from the Department of Education. This began with several Interagency transfers, most recently the transfer of student loan management to the Treasury Department. Now, there are growing concerns that the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services could be next. Disability Scoop reported that the Education Department has completed ten such transfers in the past year, and advocacy groups say they have credible reports that oversight of special education might soon shift to another federal agency.
For me, this is not just an abstract policy issue. As a former special education student, I understand what’s at risk. I’m grateful for the education I received through my local school district. Thanks to laws like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), I was able to attend public school from preschool through twelfth grade. I had teachers, therapists, and paraprofessionals who shaped my life in ways I still feel today. I remember field trips, school events, and simply being included—things that wouldn’t have been possible without the protections IDEA provided. So, when I hear about proposals that could weaken or unsettle the systems that made my education possible, it feels very personal.
According to an alert from the National Down Syndrome Congress, there is “urgent information” suggesting that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has talked with Education Secretary Linda McMahon about moving USERS—which includes the Office of Special Education Programs and the Rehabilitation Services Administration—to HHS. The reasoning reportedly is that special education is “medical,” a view that disability advocates strongly oppose. President Trump has said before that he wanted to transfer “special needs” programs to HHS, but McMahon has also suggested the programs might be moved to the Department of Labor. Sources cited by the Down Syndrome group say the White House budget office is expected to decide soon.
Advocates warn this kind of move would bypass Congress, conflict with federal law, and undo decades of progress. In a letter to the White House budget office, Stephanie Smith Lee and Heather Sachs explained that putting IDEA oversight under a health agency would bring back an outdated medical view of disability that treats students as patients who need to be “cured.” They believe it would break the connection between special education and general education, harm coordination with workforce preparation, and hide disability education inside a large health bureaucracy. Chad Rummel from the Council for Exceptional Children added that no one has explained how the effort to move the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services would actually help disabled children and warned that dismantling a system built over fifty years would be hard to fix.
This uncertainty comes at the same time as the administration is emphasizing a large increase in IDEA funding in the 2027 budget proposal. While the overall number looks like a big investment, the details tell a more complicated story. The budget removes dedicated funding for parent training centers and technical assistance programs, folding them into broad state grants.
These centers are often the only support families have when dealing with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or school challenges, and without specific funding, advocates worry they might quietly lose resources. Early childhood programs face the same risk, as early childhood funding is once again proposed for consolidation into general state grants.
The budget also uses wording that has drawn criticism, describing IDEA as serving “eight million children with disabilities, including those unborn.” There’s no federal tracking of disabled unborn children—the eight million figure refers solely to students with IEPs. This language echoes language used by anti-abortion activists and signals a shift in how disability is framed in federal policy. At the same time, the proposal cuts the English as a second language program and reduces support for minority-serving schools, changes that would impact disabled students of color disproportionately.
The Education Department says it is still looking at possible partnerships for special education programs and that required services will continue. But for families and educators, the pattern is clear: there is talk about investment, while behind the scenes, efforts are underway to shift, consolidate, or offload the systems that keep IDEA effective. For those of us who grew up depending on these protections, the stakes couldn’t be more obvious.
Sources:
Diament, Michelle. “Ed Department May Offload Special Education Soon, Advocates Warn.” Disability Scoop, Disability Scoop, 26 Mar. 2026, http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2026/03/26/ed-department-may-offload-special-education-soon-advocates-warn/31925/.
Métraux, Julia. “Hold off on Celebrating Trump’s Proposal to Increase Disability Education Funding.” Mother Jones, The Center for Investigative Reporting, 4 Apr. 2026, http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/04/trump-budged-disability-education-rfk/.