The Federal Role in Special Education: 5 Questions

The Federal Role in Special Education: 5 Questions

States will see changes as oversight of special education and civil rights enforcement moves from the Education Department to other agencies.

The Education Department is in the process of moving authority over most of its functions to other federal agencies. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

Special education is a state-federal partnership. Federal laws and regulations direct states to establish processes to ensure children with disabilities can receive early intervention services and attend school in a setting that meets their individual needs, while maximizing their time with nondisabled peers.

With the U.S. Department of Education's recent announcement that it will shift oversight of special education and civil rights enforcement to other agencies, here are five questions about what the changes might mean for states.

1. What did the Department of Education announce?

Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced that the department has signed an interagency agreement, or IAA, to move the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, known as OSERS, to the Department of Health and Human Services. The office oversees the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The department published the full text of the agreement with HHS and a fact sheet explaining the reasoning behind the move. The announcement is notable in that it will place special education programs at a separate agency from general K-12 education programs, which are being transferred to the Department of Labor as part of an earlier IAA.

The secretary also announced in a separate IAA that the Office for Civil Rights, or OCR, which enforces federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in programs and activities receiving federal education funding, will move to the Department of Justice. The department published the full text of the agreement with the DOJ and a related fact sheet.

The Education Department has signed 10 agreements moving authority over most of the department's functions to the following agencies:

• Department of Labor: Most programs in elementary and secondary education, postsecondary education, and career and technical education.
• Department of Health and Human Services: Child Care Access Means Parents in School program, foreign medical accreditation, family engagement and student support services.
• Department of State: Foreign gift reporting and international education and foreign language studies. 
• Department of Interior: Indian education programs.
• Department of Treasury: Student loans.

2. What does the change mean for states in implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act?

The agreement tasks Health and Human Services with administering IDEA formula and discretionary grant programs, overseeing compliance monitoring and data collection, and providing technical assistance and stakeholder outreach. As a result, states may see changes in their federal points of contact for technical assistance, funding and monitoring, depending on HHS' plan for staffing special education programs at the agency. Additionally, the process and technical systems state education agencies use to draw down IDEA funding will change to follow existing HHS drawdown procedures. According to the agreement, the Education Department will retain primary authority over the release of policy documents, such as regulations, nonregulatory guidance, Federal Register notices, and budget requests and justifications.

States will still be responsible for meeting the statutory and regulatory requirements of IDEA, including identifying all students with disabilities, providing those students a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment, and providing due process rights to parents to contest their student's individualized educational program. States will still be responsible for monitoring implementation at the district level.

The IAA does not impact IDEA funding, which will remain at its current level through the end of the current fiscal year. The appropriations process that will determine IDEA funding for fiscal year 2027 is ongoing. The House recently passed an appropriations bill that would include modest increases to IDEA in FY 2027; the Senate has not yet released its education appropriations bill. The president's budget request calls for increasing total IDEA funding from $15.5 billion to $16 billion while consolidating the funding streams for special education preschool grants and national activities. There have generally been slight increases in IDEA funding over the last few fiscal years.

3. What is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act?

IDEA is the federal law that governs special education and early intervention services for children with disabilities from birth through age 21. The statute is organized into four parts, A-D, and funds technical assistance, professional development and the dissemination of best practices in special education.

During the 2023-2024 school year, 7.9 million students received services under IDEA Part B, which applies to special education and related services for children ages 3-21. Part B accounts for about 15% of all public school students. More than 30% of students served by IDEA have a specific learning disability. Nearly 70% of students served by IDEA spent at least 80% of the school day in general education classes.

Since its passage in 1975, IDEA has committed the federal government to cover up to 40% of the excess cost of educating students with disabilities over the national average per pupil expenditure, or APPE. That funding level-known as full funding-has never been achieved. In FY 2025, Part B was funded at $14.2 billion, which accounts for just over 10% of APPE.

Elementary and Secondary Students with Disabilities (Part B)

IDEA requires schools to identify, evaluate and serve all children with disabilities. To qualify for services under IDEA, a student must have one of 13 disabilities named in statute and need specialized instruction to make academic progress. The law ensures that students with disabilities have the right to a free and appropriate public education that is tailored to their individual needs in a setting that maximizes their exposure to the general education classroom and their nondisabled peers.

Every student served by IDEA must be provided with an individualized education program, or IEP, that is developed in consultation with the student's family, teachers, and other school and district staff, and is reviewed and updated annually. IDEA also directs states to establish options for families to contest their child's IEP. These include mediation, due process hearings, and filing a complaint with the state education agency.

Mediation allows parents to resolve complaints with their child's school through a process that is voluntary for both parties, is conducted by a qualified and impartial mediator, and is free to parents. If mediation is unsuccessful in resolving the dispute, parents can file a due process complaint.

After filing the complaint, parents may participate in a resolution session before moving to a due process hearing conducted by an impartial hearing officer. Due process hearings are legal proceedings, and parents may choose to be represented by an attorney. Depending on the state, either the state or local education agency will conduct the due process hearing.

Separate from mediation and due process, any individual or organization may file a written complaint with the state education agency alleging local agency violations of the IDEA statute or regulations. The state education agency is then responsible for conducting an investigating and issuing a decision with corrective actions. State complaints can be used to address IDEA violations for individual children or system-wide violations.

Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C)

IDEA also supports identification and early intervention for infants and toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays. Infants and toddlers who are determined to have a disability or developmental delay must receive an individualized family services plan, or IFSP, that describes supports that will be provided to the child and their family.

IDEA Part C statute and regulations outline 14 minimum requirements for state early intervention systems. These allow states the flexibility to design their own systems in a way that best serves their state and may go above the minimum requirements. Each state must designate a lead agency to ensure federal requirements are enacted consistently across the state. In FY 2023, 441,515 children were served by IDEA Part C programs. IDEA Part C is currently funded at $540 million.

4. What role has the Department of Education played in implementing IDEA?

The Education Department's Office of Special Education Programs, or OSEP, oversees state implementation of IDEA and provides states with technical assistance. States, in turn, oversee IDEA implementation at the district level.

Under IDEA, federal oversight activities conducted by OSEP, which is part of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, are known as monitoring, compliance and enforcement, with the goal of improving educational outcomes for students with disabilities and ensuring IDEA program requirements are being met at the state level. Based on state reporting, OSEP determines whether each state meets IDEA requirements, needs assistance, needs intervention or needs substantial intervention. If states aren't meeting federal requirements, OSEP can take various enforcement actions, such as informing the state of technical assistance resources, requiring the state to create a corrective action plan and withholding some or all of the state's IDEA funds. OSEP also ensures that states are following IDEA's fiscal requirements, such as maintenance of effort and ensuring that federal funds supplement rather than supplant other funds

In June 2025, OSEP released the most recent report on state implementation efforts, which revealed that only 29 states meet IDEA Part B requirements, and 31 states need assistance to meet requirements, with all but four rated as needing assistance for two or more years in a row.

OSEP also provides technical assistance to states to help them improve their implementation of IDEA, provides grants to higher education institutions to train the special education workforce, conducts and disseminates research and best practices in special education, and maintains resource centers for parents of children with disabilities.

5. What role does the Office of Civil Rights play in implementing IDEA?

The Office of Civil Rights, or OCR, investigates reports of disability discrimination in schools, as well as other types of discrimination subject to federal laws. Generally, families may file IDEA-related complaints with the OCR after they have gone through state and district complaint processes. Families, individuals and organizations may also submit complaints related to other types of disability discrimination, such as harassment, differential treatment, accessibility, and seclusion and restraint.

Typically, disability discrimination accounts for roughly half of all complaints submitted to the OCR, though in fiscal year 2024, 37% dealt with disability discrimination. The OCR also oversees the Civil Rights Data Collection survey, which gathers national and state data on equal access to educational opportunities.

The OCR has seen significant changes since the start of the second Trump administration. In March 2025, the Education Department closed seven of the OCR's 12 regional offices and laid off roughly half of OCR's staff. The department also laid off 137 OCR staff during the federal government shutdown in October. Both sets of layoffs were challenged in court and led to reinstatement of employees. However, OCR staffing levels remain lower than in previous years, which has led to concerns about the capacity of the office to address complaints.

Emily Katz Sayag is an associate legislative director in NCSL's State-Federal Affairs Division.