Mark Kelly Demands Reversal of Special Education Program Transfer Out of Education Department

Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) spearheaded a recent letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon demanding the reversal of plans to transfer special education programs and civil rights enforcement out of the Department of Education (ED).

The Context

In mid-June, the Department of Education announced that it had signed four new interagency agreements (IAAs), specifically partnering with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide special education and rehabilitative services, and with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to enforce civil rights.

"The Trump Administration has been clear: as we scale back federal micromanagement when it hinders success, we are equally committed to bolstering the efficacy of federal oversight where it is essential," said Sec. McMahon in the presser.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last March to dismantle the Department (or at least significantly downsize it), and this is just another part of that effort.

Kelly's Response

Despite this, Sen. Kelly argues in his letter that this is illegal and that "Special education and vocational rehabilitation are education programs. Any attempt to move these programs to HHS would fundamentally alter the purposes of these services, upending fifty years of work that took place at the federal, state, and local level to improve educational and employment outcomes for people with disabilities."

Additionally, Sen. Kelly noted that transferring the ED's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the DOJ's Civil Rights Division (CRT) would only worsen the backlog, especially given that the CRT has lost an estimated 75% of its civil rights staff attorneys since January 2025.

"We have a simple demand: follow our nation's education and appropriations laws as Congress wrote them to protect students' most basic right to a quality education," the Arizona Senator's letter concluded. "We call on this administration to immediately cease implementing these IAAs, fully implement IDEA and the Rehabilitation Act as Congressionally directed, and take immediate action to strengthen civil rights enforcement—instead of burying students’ cases behind more bureaucracy. Our students and their families deserve nothing less."