Special education oversight is shifting out of the US Department of Education, federal officials have announced, a move that many disability advocates decried as potentially fragmenting critical programs.
The change could have particular effects in Pennsylvania, which has one of the nation’s highest shares of students with disabilities.
Officials in President Donald Trump’s administration have said relocating these functions to the US Department of Health and Services cuts through red tape and “scales back federal micromanagement.”
“By closely partnering with HHS, which oversees programs for millions of individuals with disabilities, we will align federal services to improve academic outcomes, strengthen access to programs and information and support people with disabilities so they can gain self-sufficiency, life tools and meaningful employment that they need to succeed in their lives,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote in a June 16 letter to parents.
In addition to the shift in special education services, McMahon announced the education department’s Office for Civil Rights would relocate to the US Department of Justice.
The Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, an education advocacy nonprofit, contends the change will hand these important programs to agencies without the expertise to run them. As a result, they predicted, the decision will “irreparably harm children with disabilities and the increasing number of students whose education is impeded by discriminatory conduct.”
What’s the background?
Conservative groups have long been calling for the dismantling of the federal education department, which they contend has injected left-leaning ideology into the nation’s schools.
Since taking charge of the agency, McMahon has ushered in sweeping cuts, with the stated intent of eliminating federal bureaucracy and “returning” control to local communities. The agency has lost hundreds of staffers and closed seven regional civil rights offices, including one in Philadelphia.
During the 2025 government shutdown, the Trump administration also attempted to make sweeping cuts in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services but later reversed the layoffs.
Margie Wakelin, an Education Law Center senior lawyer, said many advocates see room for improvement in federal special education programs — but argues the newly announced changes are a move in the wrong direction. These programs needed additional investment, not cuts, she says.
Will changes trickle down to Pennsylvania students?
The push to dismantle the US Department of Education has already affected Pennsylvanians, especially disabled students and people who are experiencing discrimination, according to Wakelin.
A USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania analysis found that some pending civil rights investigations across the commonwealth seem to have ground to a halt in Trump’s second term. Many of these probes are related to special education services and disability accommodations in schools.
The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services distributes special education funding, issues guidance to school districts and pays attention to the effectiveness of federal policies. With the office’s shift to a federal health agency, Wakelin said she and other advocates worry about a loss of education expertise and capacity to help local school districts support children with disabilities.
That, in turn, will put more pressure on the Pennsylvania Department of Education to fill the gap, she predicts.
“We certainly think that this is going to have an impact on an already overtaxed agency in our state,” she said.
Representatives with the Commonwealth Foundation, on the other hand, say the changes will have little effect in Pennsylvania classrooms.
“The US Department of Education has wasted trillions of dollars without improving the quality of education and provides little value,” Nathan Benefield, chief policy officer of the conservative-leaning think tank, said in a statement. “The department doesn’t run schools or teach a single child. It neither sets curricula nor hires teachers — it distributes dollars. It doesn’t matter to parents which federal agencies writes a check or enforces regulations.”
How many special education students attend school in Pa.?
The number of special education students in Pennsylvania has surged in past decades, even amid overall enrollment declines.
About one in five students in the Keystone State received special education services in the 2022-2023 school year, roughly tying New York and Maine for the highest rate in the nation, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
In the 2022-23 school year, nearly 358,000 commonwealth children aged 3 to 21 were served under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, officials report. The total has jumped 47.5% since the turn of the millennium, according to federal data.
