Trump Admin Moves Some Education Department Responsibilities to HHS, DOJ
Will this move strengthen protections for vulnerable kids or put them in harm's way?
Above: U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in Washington, D.C. on June 11. Image credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images
The Spin
Republican narrative
This move will strengthen protections. Funding will keep flowing to the states, and the Trump administration has even proposed a historic half-billion-dollar increase for special education services. Breaking down bureaucratic barriers while bolstering civil rights enforcement is exactly what families have been demanding for years.
Democratic narrative
Shifting special education programs to an agency like HHS, led by someone who has repeatedly made disparaging comments about students with special needs, will be a disaster. The DOE was created to stop the kind of institutional neglect this restructuring risks reviving. Families who have fought hard for their children's rights shouldn't have to start that battle over again.
