Key facts
- The Trump administration is transferring oversight of special education and civil rights from the Department of Education to other agencies.
- The Justice Department will handle civil rights enforcement in schools, and the Department of Health and Human Services will oversee special education.
- The administration's moves are part of President Donald Trump's pledge to dismantle the Department of Education.
- The Education Department has been handing off various operations and grant programs through interagency agreements.
- Programs like Title I funding, teacher training, and the TRIO college-access program have been reassigned to the Labor Department.
The Trump administration is transferring oversight of special education and civil rights programs from the Department of Education to the Justice and Health and Human Services departments, a move that brings the administration closer to President Donald Trump's pledge to dismantle the agency.
The administration frames these changes as interagency partnerships aimed at reducing bureaucracy. The Justice Department will now handle civil rights enforcement in schools and student privacy protections, while the Department of Health and Human Services will oversee special education.
The Office for Civil Rights at the Education Department previously served as a last resort for families facing discrimination in schools, investigating complaints based on race, sex, religion, and disability status. The special education office plays a critical role in distributing billions of dollars to states to ensure compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
These latest transfers follow significant workforce reductions at the Education Department and the reassignment of other operations, including Title I funding for low-income schools, teacher training, English instruction, and the TRIO college-access program to the Labor Department. The federal student loan portfolio is being transferred to the Treasury Department, while foreign language programs and university gift tracking have moved to the State Department, and Native American education oversight has gone to the Interior Department.
With these major functions effectively reassigned, the Department of Education is left with a significantly reduced scope, primarily its research arms, which have also been downsized.