Federal education officials are offering up more specifics about their plans to offload many special education responsibilities, but their efforts to reassure stakeholders are doing little to ease concerns.
The U.S. Department of Education held a call with disability advocates late last week in a bid to better explain how it will shift much of its Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, or OSERS, to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Kelly Rogers, the Education Department’s acting assistant secretary overseeing special education, stressed to those on the call that the agency is “not transitioning” special education or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to HHS, according to a transcript obtained by Disability Scoop.
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“The U.S. Health and Human Services is not taking over IDEA. Period,” she said.
However, OSERS staff will move to HHS, advocates who participated in the call said Rogers told them. Rogers will continue to supervise OSERS staff “with additional support by HHS,” though she will remain at the Education Department.
“That is significant new information because it raises a basic question: if IDEA is staying at ED and nothing is changing for states or families, why are the staff responsible for carrying out this work being moved to HHS?” said Jacqueline Rodriguez, CEO of the National Council for Learning Disabilities. “For families, the distinction matters. A child’s rights may not change on paper, but those rights depend on whether the federal government can provide timely guidance, strong monitoring, clear accountability and education-specific expertise when states or districts fall short.”
Rodriguez noted that there is no current information about how many staff remain at OSERS after layoffs at the agency.
Rogers told stakeholders that OSERS staff will continue their oversight of IDEA, vocational rehabilitation and other programs and that the partnership with HHS will help OSERS bolster monitoring of state IDEA implementation. State education agencies and vocational rehabilitation programs will continue to report their data to the federal government as they have before and funding and support for parent training and information centers will not be impacted, she said.
Rogers did not specify when OSERS staff will move to HHS.
“Advocates, parents, and teachers in the special education community have nothing to fear,” said Savannah Newhouse, Education Department press secretary. “Department of Education staff who are detailed to support partner agencies remain Department of Education staff under these interagency agreements. When we detail staff to HHS to support our Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Partnership, they will bring their OSERS expertise with them wherever they sit. A different building, a different floor, or a different desk doesn’t change their job responsibilities and commitment to serve students with disabilities every single day.”
But, advocates who participated in the call said they were unconvinced.
“They insist they will fulfill all obligations under IDEA, but there was no clarity on a practical level for how that will work,” said Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, or COPAA, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of students with disabilities and their families. “They spent time outlining responsibilities of (the federal government) and states, and I cannot for the life of me see how this move returns anything to the states they did not already have, except continued confusion and chaos.”
