At Changing Perspectives, we stand in firm opposition to the federal government’s efforts to transfer core special education and civil rights functions outside the U.S. Department of Education. Moving responsibilities connected to the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the Department of Justice (DOJ), threatens the foundation of federal disability, education, and civil rights policy.
Students with disabilities deserve educational systems designed around their needs, rights, and opportunities. They deserve equitable access to education, strong protections under the law, and a Department of Education that is fully equipped and committed to defending their rights.
Why This Matters
OSERS plays a critical role in ensuring that students with disabilities receive the free, appropriate public education they are guaranteed under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Through funding, oversight, guidance, monitoring, and technical assistance, OSERS supports states and districts in translating federal law into meaningful practice in schools.
OCR also plays an essential role in protecting students from discrimination in educational settings. When students and families experience discrimination, they need a clear, accessible, education-centered pathway for investigation, resolution, and accountability.
Moving these functions to agencies whose primary missions are not education creates confusion, weakens coordination, and risks disrupting critical services and protections. Special education is not a separate enterprise. IDEA is built on the principle that students with disabilities should be educated alongside their peers and have access to the same academic standards, accountability systems, and opportunities for success.
Separating disability related education programs from the broader education system weakens the coordination necessary to ensure students with disabilities are fully included in general education. It also risks separating education-focused civil rights enforcement from the agency responsible for education policy and oversight.
Our Position
Changing Perspectives believes this is not a matter of government efficiency. It is a matter of educational equity and civil rights.
Moving OSERS to HHS and OCR to DOJ jeopardizes:
- Federal accountability for how students with disabilities are served in every state and district
- Clear guidance for schools working to meet their responsibilities under federal law
- Timely support for families navigating concerns about access, services, discrimination, and inclusion
- The educational expertise needed to ensure that students with disabilities can learn alongside their peers in the least restrictive environment
- The coordination between general education, special education, transition services, vocational rehabilitation, and civil rights enforcement
- The continued progress schools have made toward building inclusive and equitable learning communities
IDEA was created to protect students’ right to education. It was not created to treat disability as a medical issue separate from school access, participation, and belonging. Students with disabilities need appropriate supports, high expectations, meaningful relationships, and full participation in school life. Those responsibilities belong within education.
We call on the Administration and Congress to reject these transfers, keep special education and civil rights functions within the U.S. Department of Education, and protect the federal infrastructure that safeguards the educational rights of students with disabilities.
Our Commitment
For over a decade, Changing Perspectives has worked directly with over 1,200 schools, districts, and other organizations in 49 states to promote the inclusion of students with disabilities. This work depends on strong public systems that affirm the rights of all students and support educators in creating inclusive learning environments.
Changing Perspectives continues to:
- Advocate for strong federal leadership in special education and civil rights enforcement
- Work with schools to ensure that students with disabilities are given appropriate opportunities to learn, participate, and thrive in the least restrictive environment
- Equip educators with tools, training, and guidance that advance inclusive practices
- Elevate belonging as a core part of educational access
- Stand with students, families, educators, and advocates who rely on these protections every day
Standing with a National Coalition
Changing Perspectives has joined a broad coalition of disability, civil rights, and education organizations in opposing these transfers. Together, the coalition has urged Congress to reject the transfer of OSERS to HHS and OCR to DOJ through interagency agreements and to preserve the Department of Education’s longstanding role in leading, overseeing, administering, and enforcing the laws and programs that support opportunity, inclusion, and success for students with disabilities.
This coalition statement makes clear that students with disabilities deserve educational systems designed around their needs, rights, and opportunities, not administrative restructuring that risks disrupting critical services and protections.
Read the joint statement here.
The Path Forward
Students with disabilities and their families should not have to navigate a more fragmented federal system to access the rights they already have. Schools should not be left without clear, education-centered guidance for meeting their responsibilities. Educators should not lose access to the federal expertise and support needed to advance inclusive practice.
Changing Perspectives urges policymakers to reverse course, protect the role of the U.S. Department of Education, and strengthen the federal systems that ensure every student has access to learning, belonging, and opportunity.
