Joint Statement on the Illegal Transferring of Key Roles and Responsibilities from the U.S. Department of Education

Civil rights and education organizations denounce the unlawful transfer of critical U.S. Department of Education offices and responsibilities to other federal agencies

We, the undersigned civil rights and education organizations, denounce the Trump administration’s announcement this week to unlawfully transfer authority of numerous critical offices and responsibilities across the U.S. Department of Education to other federal agencies. These actions sow chaos and are a move backwards for U.S. students, families, the public schools 90% of students attend, and the country as a whole.

Congress established the Department in order to ensure focused and expert support for U.S. schools and students and as a national commitment to high quality education for all. Federal law is clear: only Congress has the authority to make changes to the functions and responsibilities of the Department of Education. For decades, the Department has been essential in ensuring all students, especially our most underserved —  including students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, students with disabilities, English learners, students experiencing homelessness, students in foster care, and more — receive a high-quality education and the rights and services to which they are legally entitled.

And yet, Tuesday’s announcement disregards decades of congressional authority and plunges our nation’s education system further into chaos by requiring states, districts, schools, families, and students to deal with multiple federal agencies that lack the capacity or expertise to support them. These actions do nothing to “return education to the states,” and will neither improve student outcomes, strengthen public schools, nor protect students’ civil rights. We have already witnessed earlier this year the chaos and confusion that resulted from the Department illegally transferring the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education to the Department of Labor (DOL) — a move that has made it more difficult for states to access funding, and has resulted in DOL unable to effectively carry out basic functions, such as holding trainings, issuing notices, and providing guidance to states and school districts. Moving additional education programs to DOL, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of the Interior, and the Department of State will create further dysfunction and uncertainty for state and district leaders, who will only see an increase in bureaucratic barriers as they navigate various agencies with no experience administering education programs. We also remain profoundly alarmed about future transfers of authority that have been foreshadowed by the President and the Secretary, including plans to move operations of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), and the Office of Federal Student Aid to other agencies.

Moving functions of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education to DOL, including the management of Title I, is not only nonsensical, but it will erode oversight of required annual assessments and school accountability, as well as countless grants that fund a host of important programs in which DOL has no expertise, including those related to literacy, K-12 family engagement, charter schools, community schools, migrant education, assistance for students experiencing homelessness, and professional development for teachers, to name a few. DOL enforcement offices, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Wage and Hour Division, are designed for regulatory compliance in workplaces, not for continuous improvement and partnerships with state education agencies. At a time when students in the U.S. are already struggling, it is appalling to risk important federal funding, partnerships, and oversight of how schools are serving students. Because of the chaos and real harm to students and schools these actions will cause, these proposals are also strongly opposed by the majority of Americans. Multiple polls have shown that nearly two-thirds of all adults across the country have consistently opposed eliminating the Department of Education and its key roles and responsibilities.

Furthermore, anticipated future transfers of authority at OCR and OSERS are deeply worrisome. We have already seen the administration’s disregard for civil rights enforcement as OCR has dismissed thousands of cases at record pace this year, leaving millions of students and their families without the appropriate remedies to ensure their federally guaranteed rights to education. As we mark the 50th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) next week, the administration’s anticipated move to ship special education to HHS is a slap in the face to millions of families. Rather than celebrating the landmark law that guaranteed rights for students with disabilities, the administration is deliberately plunging those students and their families into a more segregated, unequal educational system that will have disastrous ramifications for decades to come.

These illegal actions only serve to further distance students from educational opportunities. The agencies that are now charged with protecting students’ educational and civil rights do not have the relationships, expertise, or staff capacity to do these jobs. Put simply: there is a reason the U.S. Department of Education was established by Congress in the first place. When the administration fails to deliver services and support as a result of these decisions, it is students and families who will suffer.

Tuesday’s actions — and the additional ones that are anticipated to follow — are a betrayal to every public school, educator, student, and family in this country. We urge Congress to reclaim its authority and prevent this unprecedented and drastic transfer of authority.

Signed,
Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc.
Advocates for Children of New York
Advocating 4 Kids Inc
All4Ed
Alliance for Children’s Rights
Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools
American Association of People with Disabilities
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
American Atheists
American Civil Liberties Union
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Black Educator Advocates Network
Brown’s Promise
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
Center for Racial and Economic Justice
Center for Strong Public Schools
Children’s Defense Fund
Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues
Coalition on Human Needs
Collaborative for Student Success
Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates
Disability Rights Nebraska
Diverse Charter Schools Coalition
EdTrust
Education Law Center
Education Law Center-PA
Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC)
Educators for Excellence
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities
Equal Justice Society
Families In Schools
Feminist Majority Foundation
GLSEN
Healthy Schools Campaign
Honesty for Ohio Education
Illinois Families for Public Schools
Kids First Chicago
League of Education Voters
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
LOVEboldly
National Center for Learning Disabilities
National Center for Youth Law
National Charter Collaborative
National Council of Asian Pacific Americans
National Council of Jewish Women
National Education Association
National Parents Union
National Urban League
Native American Disability Law Center
Ohio Equal Rights
Public Justice
Red Wine & Blue- Ohio
Right to Read Ohio
Southern Poverty Law Center
State Wide Education Organizing Committee
Student Advocacy Center of Michigan
Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT)
StudentsFirstNY
Texas Appleseed
The Center for Learner Equity
The Collective for Liberatory Lawyering
The Institute for College Access & Success
Treehouse
UnidosUS