I have been seeing a lot of posts in our community this week. A lot of panic, a lot of confusion, and honestly a lot of misinformation going in both directions. Some people are saying nothing has changed. Some people are saying our kids have lost all their rights.
Neither of those things is true. And I want to cut through the noise and tell you exactly what is happening, what it actually means for your child, and what you can do right now.
Because here is the truth: your child’s rights on paper have not changed. But the system that enforces those rights is being quietly dismantled. And that should make all of us very, very angry.
What Just Happened
On June 16, 2026, the Trump administration announced it is moving two of the most critical offices inside the Department of Education to other federal agencies.
The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) is being moved to the Department of Health and Human Services. OSERS manages roughly $15 billion in special education grants and is responsible for overseeing whether states are actually following IDEA, the federal law that guarantees your child the right to a free, appropriate public education and an IEP.
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is being moved to the Department of Justice. OCR is the office you contact when your child is denied services, discriminated against, or excluded. They investigate complaints and hold schools accountable.
The administration is calling these moves “partnerships” designed to reduce bureaucracy. Education Secretary Linda McMahon says the changes “will not impact students, parents, or families.”
I want you to hold that statement up against everything else in this post and decide for yourself.
Why This Is Happening
This is not random. This is not a surprise. This is a deliberate, step-by-step effort to dismantle the Department of Education without formally abolishing it, which would require Congress.
The blueprint comes directly from Project 2025, a policy document written by the Heritage Foundation that specifically recommended moving special education oversight to HHS, moving civil rights enforcement to DOJ, and eventually converting IDEA funding into no-strings block grants. That last part means states would receive a lump sum of money with far fewer federal requirements to actually serve kids with disabilities.
This June 16 announcement is not the first wave. Since late 2025, the administration has already moved more than 100 K-12 and higher education programs to other agencies. The Education Department has cut its staff by nearly half. Over $2 billion in previously awarded grants have been canceled.
This is a pattern, not an isolated decision.
What You Should Actually Be Concerned About
The shift from an education model to a medical model
This is the piece that I think is not getting enough attention.
Moving IDEA oversight to HHS is not just a bureaucratic shuffle. It is a fundamental shift in how the federal government thinks about your child. Right now, your child is a student who deserves access, inclusion, and education alongside their peers. Under a medical model, your child becomes a patient with a condition to diagnose and treat.
That mindset has real consequences. It historically leads to lower expectations for students, more segregation and separate classrooms, and decisions based on diagnosis rather than what a child actually needs to learn and participate in school.
As Denise Marshall of COPAA put it: “There is no logical sense why anyone would move students with disabilities under HHS. We’re not going to all of a sudden go to our surgeon to learn how to read.”
Civil rights enforcement is already gutted
Even before this announcement, OCR had already lost more than half its staff and closed many of its regional offices. In 2025, 90% of student discrimination and harassment complaints were dismissed. 90%.
Moving what is left to the Department of Justice, which has no education expertise and its own enormous backlog of cases, is expected to make enforcement slower and less effective. For autism families who are already fighting hard just to get IEP compliance, this means fewer people at the federal level to back you up when schools do not follow the law.
Block grants could gut state accountability
Project 2025 proposes converting IDEA funding into no-strings block grants. Right now, states must follow strict federal rules to receive special education money. Block grants would hand states a lump sum with far fewer requirements. States that are already underfunding special education would face even less pressure to do it right.
A fragmented system is harder for families to navigate
Right now, if your child is denied services, you contact one agency. Under the new structure, special education oversight sits at HHS, civil rights enforcement sits at DOJ, and remaining Education Department functions are split across three agencies. For autism parents who already spend enormous time and energy navigating systems, this adds another layer of confusion and delay.
The long-term goal appears to be full devolution to states
IDEA was created in 1975 because states were turning disabled children away from public schools entirely. The federal government stepped in because states could not be trusted to do it without accountability. Returning full control to states, without federal oversight, risks going backward 50 years.
One former OSERS employee said it plainly: “I’m really concerned that we are going to go 50 years backwards.”
What Is NOT Changing Right Now
I want to be accurate because panic does not help anyone.
IDEA, Section 504, and the ADA are still the law. Congress has not repealed them. The president cannot do so unilaterally. Your child’s existing IEP or 504 plan remains in effect. The process for getting them at the school level has not changed. Special education funding has not been cut by this announcement.
What is being weakened is the enforcement infrastructure that makes those rights real. The law exists. The people responsible for making sure schools follow it are being scattered, cut, and moved to agencies that were not built for this work.
As Katy Neas, CEO of The Arc, said: “A student who is denied services, disciplined for disability-related needs, or blocked from an accessible classroom needs one federal education system that can see the whole picture and act.”
What You Can Do Right Now
Contact your members of Congress. Both your House representative and your two senators. Urge them to assert congressional oversight and block these interagency transfers. The Autism Society, The Arc, and the Council for Exceptional Children all have action alert pages that make this easy. This is the single most impactful thing you can do.
Document everything. If your child’s IEP services are being delayed, denied, or not followed, document it in writing and file a complaint with OCR now, while they still have some capacity to act. Do not wait.
Stay informed. Follow organizations like The Arc, Council for Exceptional Children, Understood.org, and the Autism Society for updates as this situation continues to develop.
Know your rights. The more you understand about IDEA, IEPs, and your child’s legal protections, the better equipped you are to advocate when the system fails. That knowledge does not disappear when offices move.
Why I Built Autism Pathways
I built Autism Pathways because I was that parent standing in the kitchen having a full spiral over a letter that made no sense. Because I spent years figuring out systems that should have been explained to me from the beginning. Because no family should have to navigate this alone.
When the federal safety net for students with disabilities is being fragmented and weakened, tools that help families understand their rights and advocate for their children become even more critical. The app is free. It covers IEPs, Medicaid, waivers, providers, and more. And it is not going anywhere.
You can download Autism Pathways on iOS and Android.
The Bottom Line
You should not be scared. But you should be mad. And you should make some noise.
Our kids’ rights are worth fighting for. The law is on our side. What we have to fight for now is making sure the people responsible for enforcing that law are still there, still funded, and still accountable.
Contact your representatives. Document everything. Stay informed. And know that you are not doing this alone.
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Sources: NPR, Education Week, The Arc, Understood.org, The 19th News, AP / Federal News Network