The federal government is shifting oversight of the country’s special education programs and school civil rights enforcement from the Department of Education to other agencies, marking a significant restructuring of how these critical protections are monitored and upheld. The move raises questions about accountability and potential gaps in compliance as responsibility is distributed across different federal bodies. Advocates and educators are likely to scrutinize how this transition will impact students with disabilities and minority groups, who rely on these safeguards for equal access to education. Details on which agencies will take on these roles—and how the process will be managed—remain unclear.
The U.S. Department of Education has begun outsourcing responsibility for overseeing the nation’s sprawling special education system and enforcing civil rights law in schools to other federal agencies ...
