For Immediate Release
June 16, 2026
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Moving Department of Education Offices Will Hurt Students with Disabilities
(Washington, D.C.) —The U.S. Department of Education made another bad decision that will hurt students with disabilities. They are moving two important departments away from the Department of Education.
One is the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OCERS). OSERS helps states follow the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA is a civil rights law. OSERS is going to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS is a part of the United States government that works on health care. The Department of Health and Human services gets called HHS for short.
Another is the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). OCR helps protect civil rights for students. They help make sure that the laws are followed. OCR is going to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ is a part of the government that makes sure laws are followed.
This decision will hurt students with disabilities. Moving these offices will make it harder for
- Students with disabilities to get accommodations in school
- Students and families to send a complaint to the government about discrimination. Discrimination is treating people badly because of who they are.
- The government to make sure states follow IDEA.
Moving OCERS to HHS is especially bad. HHS is already making choices that hurt people with disabilities. People in HHS make hateful comments about autistic people. People in HHS say things about autism that are not true.
HHS does not understand students with disabilities. HHS thinks about disability as a health problem. Disabled people’s education is not health care. HHS does not think about the civil rights part of disability.
ASAN also thinks moving the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to the DOJ is bad. One important thing OCR does is take complaints. Those complaints help OCR protect the civil rights of students.
OCR gets a lot of complaints from students with disabilities. Most of those complaints are about students not getting the accommodations they deserve.
The DOJ is also a bad place for OCR. The person in charge of the Civil Rights Division in the DOJ makes hateful comments about people with disabilities. The Civil Rights Division used to protect people with disabilities more than it does now. This changed when Dhillon was put in charge of the Civil Rights Division. ASAN does not think we can trust the DOJ to protect students with disabilities.
OCERS and OCR should stay in the same department. OSERS and OCR should stay in the Department of Education.
Moving OCERS and OCR to different parts of the government makes it harder for schools to get the funding that they need. Disabled students might not get the resources they need. Many students with disabilities will not be included because of this. All of the offices that have moved to other departments should be moved back to the Department of Education.
The Department of Education said that moving these offices will not hurt parents and students. This is not true. Moving these offices will make it much harder for disabled students and parents to get the help that they need. If a disabled student is not allowed their accommodations, it will be harder for them or their family to get help.
ASAN’s Policy Director, Greg Robinson, said, “Students with disabilities deserve protection. Students with disabilities deserve civil rights. Students with disabilities deserve a government that helps them and cares about them.”
The Department of Education made a bad decision. This decision will hurt students with disabilities. ASAN wants the government to keep OCR and OSERS in the Department of Education.