Education Secretary Linda McMahon is carrying out the Trump administration’s campaign to dismantle the Dept. of Education and weaken the federal protections millions of students depend on.

McMahon announced plans to shift much of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the Department of Health and Human Services. She also plans to move much of the Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice.

OSERS oversees programs connected to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and helps ensure that schools meet their legal responsibilities to students with disabilities. Its staff brings decades of expertise in IEPs, classroom access, inclusive education, early intervention, rehabilitation, and federal special education law.

Moving this work to HHS separates special education from the broader public education system and pushes disabled students toward a medical framework. Students with disabilities belong in classrooms with the resources, instruction, accommodations, and services they need to succeed.

The Office for Civil Rights investigates discrimination in K–12 schools and colleges. Its work protects students facing discrimination based on disability, race, national origin, sex, and other protected characteristics. Removing OCR from the Department of Education will weaken school-based civil-rights expertise and place students at greater risk.

This attack will fall hardest on communities that already face unequal access to educational opportunity. Black and brown students, disabled students, multilingual learners, immigrant students, LGBTQ+ students, and families in underfunded districts need stronger civil-rights enforcement and fully funded public schools.

Congress established these offices and has the power to stop Sec. McMahon’s end-run around federal law. Lawmakers must block the transfers, protect Dept. of Education staff and resources, preserve federal special education oversight, strengthen civil-rights enforcement, and fully fund IDEA.

Click “Start Writing” to send a message to your members of Congress now to keep special education and civil-rights enforcement inside the Department of Education, and fully fund special education. Your message will also be copied to Secretary Linda McMahon so she hears directly from the communities rejecting the administration’s attack.