Current State of the US Department of Education

Back in February, we posted the news that the Trump administration was planning to close the Department of Education (ED). The main arguments in favor of closing ED are focused on a few issues: The desire to relocate coordination of all aspects of education to the states, the belief that the department is wasting money, and the fact that test scores have not improved over time despite the level of spending. On March 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order directing Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the agency, and on April 9, a bill (S.1402) was introduced in Congress to do this. On March 21, the president announced that that special education services from the Department of Education (ED) would move to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This move has brought up questions about how special education services will be managed, including who will manage them and how effective that management will be: it is unclear whether existing ED staff will move to HHS or if HHS staff will take over the work that had been done at ED, and if HHS staff will manage education programs, do they have adequate knowledge and experience to do so?

There are three main areas where the dramatic changes at ED could have a negative impact on students receiving special education services:

The Individuals with Disabilities Education ACT (IDEA)

The Individuals with Disabilities Education ACT (IDEA) provides the legal framework to provide special education services for a student. IDEA guarantees free appropriate public education (FAPE) for students with disabilities, requires that local education agencies (LEAs) find and evaluate students who may have a disability, and compels LEAs to provide services to meet students’ needs. Last week, Heidi Goldsmith, an expert on special education law at Bradley Goldsmith Law, LLC, presented a webinar for The Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) on IEPs and 504s post-executive order. In her webinar, she talked about the role that ED plays in interpreting IDEA. IDEA was written more broadly, so decision-makers traditionally look to ED to understand how to interpret and enforce the law consistently.

It's possible that the responsibilities of interpretation and enforcement of IDEA will go back to the states. If this happens, state-level advocacy will be even more important.

Front of the U.S. Department of Education building

The Institute for Education Sciences (IES)

The Institute for Education Sciences (IES) is a department under ED responsible for evaluating education programs, funding research to improve education, and reviewing educational programs to determine what works best for students. On February 10, the Trump administration indicated that it was cancelling approximately $1billion in federal contracts for education research under IES. 

As Ms. Goldsmith put it during the LDA webinar, “Education is a science. It isn’t the way we feel about things.” The curricula used in schools is based on research, much of which has happened at IES. In addition, the “What Works Clearinghouse” at IES is a valuable tool to force schools to comply with IDEA. Ms. Goldsmith gave an example of how lawyers can pull reports from the clearinghouse to support clients: if a school recommends a corrective reading program, a lawyer could pull reports and show how that isn’t the right approach for a student who has a deficit in decoding. Understanding what works and what doesn’t when it comes to educating students with learning disabilities is at risk.

Office of Civil Rights (OCR)

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at ED is responsible for investigating complaints if a student is denied access to special education services. In March, at least 50% of staff at OCR were cut and more than half of OCR’s field offices will be closed. Similarly to moving special education services to HHS, proposals have suggested moving OCR to the Department of Justice (DOJ), although the DOJ has an Educational Opportunities section, which some have argued is redundant. Whether the DOJ has the right expertise and capacity to support enforcement of IDEA remains to be seen.

In addition, we don’t know whether enforcement will stay at the Federal level or go to the states. If it goes to the states, there will be less consistency in how civil rights are enforced. Another big question is whether states will be given additional funding to adequately manage their new responsibilities. Parents and guardians will need to learn how their state will manage the complaint process, because they will be the ones monitoring compliance.

We will continue to monitor developments.

Resources:

• The Education Department is being cut in half. Here's what's being lost.

• A big change for kids with disabilities is underway, Trump says. Critics say it’s against the law. 

• Why Trump’s Move to Shift Special ED to HHS Is Rattling Educators 

• Cutting research funding would make education less effective and efficient

• Should the Department of Education Be Abolished?

• Senators Formally Introduce Bill to Eliminate Department of Education