The Department of Education is transferring two of its key responsibilities to other parts of the executive branch, marking the administration’s latest effort to wind down the agency’s operations.
The agency is moving its Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to the Department of Health and Human Services. OSER staff will work with HHS to “ensure that programs that support individuals with disabilities are administered more effectively and in a way that results in better outcomes for individuals with disabilities,” a senior department official told reporters on a Tuesday press call.
“Federal rights and protections provided under the programs administered by OSERS, including the [Individuals with Disabilities Education Act] and the Rehabilitation Act, are critical to individuals with disabilities and their families, yet families often described to the secretary and her team here at the department, long bureaucratic, costly efforts and additional barriers to securing the services their children need and to which they are entitled to under federal law,” an official said.
The official stressed that special needs students will not lose any rights in the move, including their right to a free, public education. States will continue to receive federal funds for programs administered by the office, and they will receive an additional $144 million for fiscal year 2026.
