Education Department shuffles civil rights, special education offices to other agencies

The Education Department will move its oversight of special education services and civil rights out of the agency to other parts of the government as part of the Trump administration’s effort to shutter the department.

Under the reshuffling, the Justice Department will now handle civil rights enforcement and student privacy protection, while the Department of Health and Human Services takes over special education initiatives for students with disabilities.

“The Trump administration has been clear: as we scale back federal micromanaging when it hinders success, we are equally committed to bolstering the efficiency of federal oversight where it is essential,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement Tuesday.

Ms. McMahon added that the move will “align federal services with the goal of strengthening academic outcomes and supporting individuals with disabilities so that they can achieve greater independence, key life skills and meaningful employment.”

She said moving civil rights enforcement to the Justice Department will ensure a stronger, more coordinated effort and “robust protection for student privacy.”

The Education Department’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and its Office for Civil Rights handle some of the department’s most sensitive cases.

The civil rights office investigates complaints that students have been discriminated against based on their race, national origin, gender or disability status, while the Special Education and Rehabilitative Services division advocates for those with disabilities.

Mr. Trump campaigned on dismantling the Education Department to reduce federal control over schools and return their oversight to the states. He signed an executive order earlier this year directing Ms. McMahon to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the department and return education authority to the states.

However, fully shuttering the department requires an act of Congress. Instead, Mr. Trump and Ms. McMahon have taken steps to reduce the agency’s footprint. She laid off 1,315 staffers in March, a move implemented after hundreds of other workers were already put on leave or took buyout options. She also closed seven of the agency’s 12 regional offices.

Conservatives praised the moves. Jonathan Butcher, acting director for the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy, said the reshuffling will “address the concerns of critics who say key questions on the agency’s closure are being disregarded.”

“Protecting civil rights is an essential responsibility for the federal government, even as Secretary McMahon winds down the U.S. Department of Education. These new partnerships demonstrate that the secretary is focused on policy details required to close the agency,” he said.

Democrats and education advocates slammed the move.

Sen. Patty Murray, Washington Democrat and vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, accused the Trump administration of “abandoning kids with disabilities and its most basic legal responsibility to protect the rights of every student in the classroom.”

She added, “Instead of helping kids get a great education, this administration is spending its time, energy and taxpayer resources fixated on where employees sit and illegally trying to shutter the Department of Education. It’s an outrageous betrayal that undoes decades of hard-won progress for students.”

EdTrust, an education think tank, told The Associated Press that the move will harm “students with disabilities, Black and Latino students, multilingual learners, students from low-income backgrounds and students in rural communities.”

It called the decision “reckless.”