Don’t Dismantle Special Education Oversight

I am asking you to act immediately to stop the transfer of federal special education responsibilities out of the U.S. Department of Education. This is no longer a hypothetical reorganization. More than 100 employees of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) are reportedly being moved to the Department of Health and Human Services just as the acting head of OSERS has resigned. Meanwhile, Congress is actively considering legislation intended to prevent these transfers. IDEA is an education law. Children with disabilities depend on the Department of Education to oversee funding, monitor compliance, provide guidance to states and schools, and protect their right to a free appropriate public education. Moving these responsibilities to agencies whose primary missions are health, human services, or law enforcement fragments accountability and risks weakening the coordinated federal oversight families and schools rely on. The Senate HELP Committee has already advanced legislation addressing these transfers. Yet the restructuring is moving forward before Congress has resolved the issue. I urge you to: Stop the transfer or delegation of OSERS, OSEP, and IDEA responsibilities outside the Department of Education. Urgently advance legislation prohibiting these transfers. Use congressional oversight and appropriations authority to prevent further implementation. Require a clear public accounting of who is responsible for IDEA oversight, funding, monitoring, and enforcement during this transition. Children with disabilities should not become the test case for dismantling federal education oversight. Please act before this restructuring becomes a fait accompli that Congress must later struggle to reverse. Our children cannot afford this experiment.