U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon says programs for students with disabilities could be divided up among multiple agencies as the Trump administration works to dismantle the Department of Education.
McMahon told lawmakers on Tuesday that no final decisions have been made, but she signaled that her agency still intends to offload programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act.
“Currently, we are still evaluating where those programs would best be located. We have not made that determination yet. We are looking at the Department of Labor for some of its programs and we are also looking at (the Department of Health and Human Services) for a potential home for some of those programs,” McMahon said during a Senate subcommittee hearing.
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More than a year ago, President Donald Trump said that he would move “special needs” programs to HHS as part of a larger effort to shutter the Education Department. Since that time, the Education Department has shifted many responsibilities to other agencies via so-called interagency agreements, but special education has so far remained in place.
McMahon’s comments came in response to questioning from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who said she has received a petition from thousands of parents, educators and advocates concerned that moving programs out of the Education Department will “undermine 50 years of progress in making sure the rights of children and students with disabilities are met.”
McMahon said she has not received the petition, but has met with parents of children with disabilities across the country.
“I have said to each of them, who is better positioned to know what your children need than you working with them and then working with your local school board,” she told the Senate panel. “These parents need to understand that regardless of which department these programs are located, they will still get the same treatment, the same funding.”
Disability advocacy groups have widely opposed plans to disperse special education programs outside of the Education Department.
“Dismantling the department and scattering education programs among agencies will result in confusion and chaos for schools, districts and states and reduce support for students and families,” said Stephanie Smith Lee who served as director of the Education Department’s Office of Special Education Programs under President George W. Bush and is now co-director of policy and advocacy at the National Down Syndrome Congress. “It is time to refocus on how to improve outcomes for students.”
Lee organized a letter to Congress last year signed by more than a dozen former Education Department officials who were responsible for overseeing IDEA implementation under Republican and Democratic administrations dating back to President Richard Nixon arguing that keeping the department intact is “essential to students with disabilities.”
During the hearing, senators also questioned McMahon about changes at the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, or OCR, which investigates complaints of disability discrimination in schools. Last year, the Education Department shuttered seven out of 12 regional civil rights offices and moved to fire more than half of OCR’s staff.
Many of those staffers have been rehired, McMahon said. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., pointed out that the staffers were brought back as a result of court orders.
A report out this week from the office of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., found that OCR disability discrimination resolution agreements were down 78.7% in 2025 compared to the previous year. The office resolved zero restraint and seclusion cases, one disability harassment case and just 40 cases related to the right to access a free appropriate public education out of 1,887 that were pending in 2025, the report indicated.
“There was a time when we were not processing cases as quickly as we should, but we are now focused on doing that,” McMahon told lawmakers.
The Education Department budget request for next year includes “more money to hire more lawyers,” McMahon said, but Murphy countered that the agency’s written proposal actually calls for a 35% cut to the civil rights office, from $140 million to $91 million.
