Education Department Restructuring
Trump Administration Shifts Key Education Civil Rights Oversight to DOJ and HHS
Key Points
The Department of Justice will not only assume student privacy protections, but will also provide “training and advisory help to schools,” under the new arrangement described by local reporting.
In a letter to parents, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the administration’s listening sessions included “over a thousand” parents, educators, state early-intervention and special-education directors, and advocates—and she quoted parents saying they had to fight “tooth and nail” for timely services, adding: “It should not require herculean effort to obtain what the law guarantees.”
Equity and disability advocates warned the changes would disproportionately affect groups including “students with disabilities, Black and Latino students, multilingual learners, students from low-income backgrounds, and students in rural communities,” arguing these “traditionally underserved students…will bear the greatest burden” of the decision.
The Hill reported the shift is part of a broader effort to dismantle the Department of Education, including an executive order directing steps toward closure, the reduction/closure of 7 of the department’s 12 regional offices, and layoffs of 1,315 staff in March; the article also says DOJ’s Civil Rights Division saw a major staffing decrease, with “75 percent of attorneys…departing.”
McMahon framed the rationale for moving special-education oversight to HHS in terms of student outcomes, saying diverting responsibilities will help students with disabilities “achieve greater independence, key life skills, and meaningful employment,” while tasks assigned to DOJ will “ensure stronger, more coordinated civil rights enforcement and robust protections for student privacy.”
The Trump administration announced on June 16, 2026, that oversight of civil rights enforcement and special education will leave the U.S. Department of Education. The Department of Justice will take over school civil rights enforcement and student privacy protections, while the Department of Health and Human Services will oversee special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which serves roughly 8 million students with disabilities. University Business reported the move brings the total number of interagency agreements offloading Education Department functions to 14.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon framed the shift as a way to cut federal red tape. In a letter to parents, she said families currently have to fight "tooth and nail" for services the law already guarantees, adding: "It should not require herculean effort to obtain what the law guarantees." Critics warn the move could leave vulnerable students with fewer protections at a time when both agencies have seen deep staffing cuts.
How the Education Department Has Been Wound Down
The dismantling of the Education Department began the day President Trump took office in January 2025. He signed an executive order in March 2025 directing Secretary McMahon to take "all necessary steps" toward closure. In March 2025, about 1,300 employees were laid off in a first wave. A second wave cut 1,315 more staff in March 2026. At the same time, 7 of the department's 12 regional offices were shut down or reduced, The Hill reported.
Because formally closing a cabinet-level agency requires an act of Congress — and Republicans hold only 53 Senate seats, short of the 60 needed — the administration has used interagency agreements to move functions out piece by piece, Maryland Matters reported. The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education was moved to the Department of Labor in late 2025. The latest four agreements transfer the two biggest remaining offices: civil rights and special education.
DOJ Takes Civil Rights Work With a Hollowed-Out Staff
The DOJ's Civil Rights Division will now handle school discrimination complaints, Title IX cases, and student privacy rules. It will also provide training and advisory help to schools, Kiowa County Press reported. But the division has lost 75% of its attorneys since January 2025, according to Maryland Matters. That raises serious questions about whether DOJ has the staff to handle thousands of new school-based cases on top of its existing workload.
The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights had already faced cuts before this transfer. McMahon said moving enforcement to DOJ will "ensure stronger, more coordinated civil rights enforcement and robust protections for student privacy." Legal experts and Democrats disagree, arguing the administration is bypassing congressional authority by moving programs that Congress created by law.
Special Education Moves to HHS, Raising a Medical Model Fear
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will now oversee the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. He has argued that special education is "health-related rather than particularly educational." Disability advocates sharply disagree. The American Association of People with Disabilities warned the shift adopts a "medical model" — treating disability as a problem to fix — rather than an educational model focused on removing barriers and keeping students in mainstream classrooms, CDIS Dispatch reported.
McMahon said the goal is to help students with disabilities "achieve greater independence, key life skills, and meaningful employment." But the Council for Exceptional Children noted that parents and teachers sent nearly 100,000 letters opposing the change, saying the administration is acting on a "campaign promise, not because it's better for kids."
Advocates Warn Underserved Students Will Bear the Biggest Cost
Equity and disability advocates say the students most at risk are those who already face the highest barriers. They warned the changes will disproportionately harm "students with disabilities, Black and Latino students, multilingual learners, students from low-income backgrounds, and students in rural communities," Kiowa County Press reported. These groups rely most heavily on federal civil rights enforcement when local systems fail them.
Senator Patty Murray called the transfers an "outrageous betrayal" and said the administration is "illegally transferring" responsibilities that only Congress can move. Democrats and state attorneys general are expected to file lawsuits challenging the legality of the agreements. A senior Education Department official said "students will not lose any rights" during the transition, but critics say the combination of restructuring and mass staff departures makes that promise hard to keep, Maryland Matters reported.
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