AAUW Condemns Trump Administration’s Attempt to Move Civil Rights and Disability Programs Out of the Department of Education

Interagency transfers would weaken federal oversight, create confusion for families, and put students’ rights at risk 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Association of University Women (AAUW) strongly condemns the U.S. Department of Education’s plans to move core responsibilities of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 

The administration describes these moves as “partnerships.” AAUW sees these shifts as attempts to dismantle the Department of Education by outsourcing the very responsibilities Congress charged it with carrying out. It should be protecting students from discrimination, ensuring equal access to education, and supporting students with disabilities. 

“Students’ rights are not paperwork to be moved from one agency to another,” said Gloria L. Blackwell, CEO of AAUW. “They are legal guarantees. DOJ and OCR are not interchangeable. DOJ has an important civil rights role, but it is not designed to be the first place students and families turn when they need help. Moving civil rights enforcement and disability programs out of the Department of Education will not strengthen protections; it will weaken accountability when students need it most.” 

OCR is the primary federal safeguard for students experiencing sexual harassment or assault, discrimination based on race, sex, disability, or pregnancy, unequal discipline, retaliation, and other barriers to equal access. For too many students and families, OCR is the last place they can turn when local systems fail. 

OCR is built to work directly with students and schools, receive individual complaints, investigate them, and secure agreements that fix problems so students can keep learning. DOJ’s primary enforcement tool is litigation, a fundamentally different approach that cannot replace OCR’s day-to-day responsibility to protect students’ rights. 

Moving special education programs to HHS similarly threatens to separate students with disabilities from the education expertise needed to ensure they receive the services, supports, and accommodations they are guaranteed under federal law. 

This shift is directly at odds with the administration’s claims that it is strengthening civil rights enforcement. After months of layoffs, office closures, backlogs, and diminished enforcement, Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Congress the Department was bringing back lawyers and hiring additional civil rights attorneys. Now the Department is moving the work itself out of the agency. That is not a plan to protect students. It is a plan to obscure responsibility. 

AAUW calls on Congress to conduct oversight of these interagency transfers and include language in the FY27 appropriations bill prohibiting the Department of Education from using appropriated funds to transfer, outsource, or otherwise shift OCR enforcement responsibilities or special education programs to other federal agencies. 

“AAUW will not accept a civil rights system that exists only on paper,” Blackwell said. “When civil rights enforcement breaks down, students pay the price. Enforcement of students’ rights should not be volatile or dependent on which agency has been handed pieces of the Department of Education this week.” 

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AAUW (American Association of University Women) is the nation’s leading organization for equity in higher education and women’s economic empowerment. Founded in 1881 by women who defied society’s conventions by earning college degrees, AAUW has since worked to increase women’s access, opportunity, and equity in higher education through research, advocacy, and philanthropy of over $140 million, supporting thousands of women scholars. Learn more at aauw.org.