K-12 Dive

Special education and disability rights advocates are ramping up their defense of the federal role in the education of students with disabilities as their concerns grow over a potential shift in how the U.S. conducts special education oversight and support. There is still no official plan from the Trump administration to move the duties of special education oversight out of the U.S. Department of Education to another federal agency — possibly the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But over the past week, advocates have sent a flurry of letters and hosted online forums to prevent such a transition. 

Despite the staff reductions at the Education Department, Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, advises families to continue filing discrimination complaints with the Office for Civil Rights at the Education Department. “The law is still intact. We must continue to use it,” Marshall said on the press call. “We must work at the state and local levels to be sure that it’s implemented.”