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As a special education advocate in Oklahoma, Lucia Frohling handles about 40 cases per year in which schools reduce class time for students with disabilities, often for behavior issues or serious medical conditions.聽

When she negotiates with school officials, she often leans on a from the federal government that such 鈥渋nformal removals鈥� 鈥� like repeatedly asking a parent to pick up their child early 鈥� could violate a student鈥檚 rights. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e denying them access to education,鈥� she said. Parents need that guidance, she added, 鈥渂ecause most families can鈥檛 afford attorneys and years of litigation.鈥�

That Biden-era document was a of the two offices within the U.S. Department of Education that oversee special education and civil rights and drew attention to that had long gone under the radar. But with Secretary Linda McMahon鈥檚 announcement last week that staff in those offices will be sent to separate agencies 鈥� special education to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice 鈥� educators and attorneys worry the split will lead to crossed wires for students with disabilities. 

鈥淲hen school districts have to navigate rules from separate federal departments, it will make it even more challenging to manage a single student’s behavior,鈥� said Jessica Saum, a special education administrator in Arkansas鈥� Cabot Public Schools, north of Little Rock. Special education programs and civil rights enforcement 鈥渁re completely intertwined in practice. I do not see how schools and districts can cleanly separate a student’s behavioral needs from their civil rights.鈥�

Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who chairs the education committee, has promised to schedule a vote next month to from moving special education to HHS. Parents say they鈥檙e concerned that their children鈥檚 disabilities would be viewed from a medical perspective. 

鈥淚 don’t want my son to be fixed. I want him to be educated,鈥� said Courtney Hansen, a Colorado mom whose son has Down Syndrome. Like Frohling, she was among the hundreds of parents and advocates who joined a with department staff to voice their opinions on the administration鈥檚 plans to relocate oversight of special education. A medical model, Hansen said, is 鈥渨hat the disability rights movement has been trying to get away from for the past 50 years.鈥�

But Cassidy, who has been critical of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., still wouldn鈥檛 keep special education and civil rights in the same agency. He thinks the Department of Labor is a better home for special education.  

In addition to the guidance on discipline, the department鈥檚 special education officials worked with OCR in 2016 on a clarifying that students with ADHD were eligible for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Until then, those students were often 鈥渙verlooked because they were bright, quiet, passing classes or not creating obvious discipline problems,鈥� said Jon Thomas, a Fairfax, Virginia, counselor who works with students who have ADHD. The condition, he said, 鈥渞arely shows up as one clean problem. It’s a kid who’s behind in reading, getting written up for impulsivity, leaning on a parent to hold the homework together, and missing instruction because nobody connected the dots. Split the agencies, and you split that dot-connecting job in half.鈥�

鈥楽harper teeth鈥�

The with HHS and DOJ were the latest attempts by the Trump administration to break up and ultimately phase out the Education Department. The DOJ would also handle complaints related to . In her about the move, McMahon said the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the Office for Civil Rights will 鈥渃ontinue to partner together.鈥� She promised that the move would 鈥渂reak down the bureaucratic barriers and strengthen the coordination of resources.鈥�

Some advocates agree with her. Marilyn Muller, a whose daughter has dyslexia, is 鈥渃autiously optimistic鈥� that moving oversight of special education and civil rights out of the Education Department would 鈥渇inally deliver real accountability,鈥� she . 鈥淭oo many families have waited years for states and local districts to follow the law.鈥�

The Department of Justice, she wrote, has 鈥渟harper teeth.鈥� 

But that鈥檚 what some parents and advocates worry about. Relationships with district officials over special education services are already adversarial. In the District of Columbia Public Schools, an OCR investigation recently concluded that parents were often forced to sue to get services for their children. Putting DOJ, the federal government鈥檚 primary law enforcement agency, in charge could make the process even less collaborative, Hansen said.

Others say it鈥檚 unlikely that the DOJ will make progress on a backlog of OCR complaints when it, too, has experienced . 

鈥淭here has already been a dramatic drop in the number of cases OCR is taking and resolving,鈥� particularly disability complaints, said Matt Cohen, a Chicago-based civil rights attorney who specializes in cases involving students with disabilities. 鈥淎s would be true when any organization is uncoupled, collaboration, coordination and consistency will be far more difficult.鈥�  

Among the complaints OCR is acting on, officials that it鈥檚 investigating the New Home Independent School District in Texas, south of Lubbock, for canceling a life skills class for students with disabilities. In May, it opened an investigation into the for its plans to move some services for students with disabilities to a central location this fall rather than keep them in general education classrooms. 

OCR also spent a year probing the D.C. Public Schools鈥� special education system, but a from the Government Accountability Office, a watchdog agency, found that OCR dismissed 90% of the 7,000 cases it says it resolved between March and September last year.

OCR鈥檚 most shows it received 22,687 complaints in fiscal year 2024, with more than 8,400 focusing on disabilities. But the public has no way to know how many complaints OCR, under McMahon鈥檚 leadership, is currently investigating because the website with that information since the Trump administration took office. 

鈥楥hange does need to happen鈥�

Even before staff departures, the DOJ鈥檚 civil rights division 鈥渢raditionally handled a much lower volume of cases,鈥� said Johnathan Smith, managing director of education and federal strategic advocacy at the National Center for Youth Law. He previously served as a deputy assistant attorney in that division. 鈥淚t is not clear that there is the infrastructure to meaningfully handle such a high volume of complaints.鈥�

Rob Harris, a Colorado father filed several complaints with OCR during the first Trump and Biden administrations, because his daughter, who is blind, wasn鈥檛 receiving services written into her individualized education program, like a cane and materials in Braille. But OCR never took any action.

He told The 74 that he 鈥渆nded up bailing the school system鈥� and now homeschools his children, while also serving as a 鈥渇acilitator鈥� in meetings between parents and educators to develop students鈥� special education plans, especially those related to job coaching and transition plans after high school.

鈥淚 really want to make sure that students receive the services that they’re entitled to,鈥� he said. 

That鈥檚 what he when he gave his three-minute statement on the January call with parents and advocates. Like several parents and advocates who participated, he said no one voiced support for moving oversight of special education to HHS. 

鈥淚t might not be the change that we wanted,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut change does need to happen.鈥�

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