Federal special education operations, currently spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Education, will move to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, President Donald Trump said on Friday.
"It's going to be a great situation. I guarantee that in a few years from now… I think that you're going to have tremendous results," said Trump, while seated in the Oval Office of the White House. Trump also said he would move federal student loan and school nutrition program oversight from the Education Department to the Small Business Administration.
Trump did not say when or how the transitions would occur. Additional information from the Education Department about logistics concerning the transfer of responsibilities was not available Friday afternoon.
U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, in a Fox News interview Friday, said funding for the federal special education law — the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — was in place before the creation of the Education Department in 1979. McMahon added that before the Education Department was created, special education programming was housed in what was then the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, "and it managed to work incredibly well."
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. wrote on the social media platform X on Friday that HHS, "is fully prepared to take on the responsibility” of supporting students with disabilities. He added, "We are committed to ensuring every American has access to the resources they need to thrive. We will make the care of our most vulnerable citizens our highest national priority."
.@HHSGov is fully prepared to take on the responsibility of supporting individuals with special needs and overseeing nutrition programs that were run by @usedgov. We are committed to ensuring every American has access to the resources they need to thrive. We will make the care of…
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) March 21, 2025
The Education Department oversees the distribution of about $15.4 billion for supports to about 8.4 million infants, toddlers, school children and young adults with disabilities. The department's Office of Special Education and Rehabilatives Services and Office of Special Education Programs also conducts monitoring, provides technical assistance to states and districts, and holds states and districts accountable for compliance to IDEA.
The president's comments come a day after he signed an executive order during a White House event directing McMahon to shutter the department to the "maximum extent appropriate."
At the Thursday signing of the executive order and during comments on Friday, Trump said the low academic performance of U.S. students required a shakeup at the federal level.
He and his administration have also cited the desire to reduce federal bureaucracy in order to give more decision-making power to the state and local levels.
But public school supporters have vigorously denounced the Trump administration’s moves to dismantle the Education Department, which have already included reducing the workforce by half and canceling research and teacher preparation grants. At least one group — Democracy Forward — says it is planning legal action to stop the department shutdown.
Chad Rummel, executive director of the Council for Exceptional Children, said in a statement Friday, "IDEA is an education law, not a healthcare law, and belongs at the Department of Education."
CEC is a nonprofit for professionals who work in special and gifted education.
Rummel added, "Moving IDEA programs to HHS would de-emphasize the purpose of IDEA to provide a free and appropriate public education and other critical activities to infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities, and challenge the federal role to provide evidence-based research, personnel preparation, and technical assistance to advance the field of special education."
National Parents Union President Keri Rodrigues said in a Friday statement, "This is not a minor bureaucratic reorganization — it is a fundamental redefinition of how our country treats children with disabilities." The National Parents Union is a 1.7 million membership organization with more than 1,800 affiliated parent organizations in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
"We must call this what it is: an effort to dismantle protections, disempower families, and turn education into a battleground for profit-driven insurance corporations," Rodrigues said. "We will not allow it.”
Dive Awards
