1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

As your constituent and the parent of a child who relies on special education services, I am writing to express my urgent opposition to the recent shifting of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) from the Department of Education to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). I ask you to use your legislative power to block these transfers and keep special education under the Department of Education. ​Special education is a fundamental civil right and an educational framework, not a medical condition. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was created to guarantee a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) alongside general education peers. Moving its oversight to HHS threatens to reduce our children’s educational needs to a medical model, separating them from the broader school infrastructure. ​My child relies on the specific, classroom-focused expertise of federal education officials who understand how schools operate. HHS simply does not possess the educational expertise or the established relationships with state and local school districts to effectively manage K-12 learning environments. Furthermore, splitting special education away from school civil rights enforcement opens a dangerous gap in ensuring our schools remain compliant and accountable. ​Please protect the progress made for disabled students over the last fifty years. I urge you to support legislation that defunds or blocks these interagency program transfers and keeps special education grounded firmly where it belongs: in our education system. ​Thank you for your time and your dedication to our community’s most vulnerable students. ​Sincerely,