Kaine, Colleagues Call Out Trump Administration’s Illegal Move That Harms Students with Disabilities
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined 29 of his Senate colleagues in pressing the Trump Administration to halt illegal efforts to shut down the Department of Education’s administration and enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which guarantees educational opportunities and protections for individuals with disabilities. The letter follows recent reporting that the Administration is working to move enforcement of IDEA to another agency.
“Your moves to illegally shut down the U.S. Department of Education’s efforts to administer and enforce the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and potentially shift this work to another agency would reverse decades of progress in how we support students with disabilities and their families,” wrote the senators in the letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “When Congress created the U.S. Department of Education, lawmakers intentionally placed enforcement of IDEA under this new Department rather than the Department of Health and Human Services. This was done because of our recognition as a society that students with disabilities should be treated as individuals seeking equal opportunity for learning and independence, rather than as patients and second-class citizens.”
The senators continued, “Your latest reported effort to illegally move IDEA responsibilities, oversight, and programming to another federal agency would further erode the protections that countless mothers, fathers, educators, advocates, and students with disabilities have fought for years to build.”
In the letter, the senators questioned the legality of the move and emphasized the risk it poses to students. They urged the Administration to instead focus on rebuilding the infrastructure that schools and districts rely on to ensure that students with disabilities receive the education they are entitled to under federal law.
In addition to Kaine, the letter is signed by U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
As a member of HELP, Kaine has long supported equitable access to education for students with disabilities. In September, Kaine and colleagues introduced the Protecting Students with Disabilities Act to ensure that special education programs remain within the U.S. Department of Education. In July, Kaine introduced the Charting My Path to Future Success Act that would restore cancelled federal funding designed to help students with disabilities succeed in adulthood. In April, Kaine and colleagues wrote a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon emphasizing the immense harm shuttering the Department of Education would have on the millions of students with disabilities across the United States. Also in April, Kaine cosponsored the IDEA Full Funding Act, legislation that would ensure Congress fulfills its commitment to fully fund the IDEA.
Full text of the letter can be found here and below:
Dear Secretary McMahon:
We write to express our serious concern with your efforts to undermine special education in the United States. Your moves to illegally shut down the U.S. Department of Education’s efforts to administer and enforce the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and potentially shift this work to another agency would reverse decades of progress in how we support students with disabilities and their families. We urge you to immediately cease these misguided efforts.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a landmark civil rights law that guarantees educational opportunities and protections for individuals with disabilities and helps to ensure that they have equal access to a free appropriate public education. As your own agency’s website rightly points out, before the passage of this legislation, millions of children with disabilities were denied a public education and opportunities to learn. When Congress created the U.S. Department of Education, lawmakers intentionally placed enforcement of IDEA under this new Department rather than the Department of Health and Human Services. This was done because of our recognition as a society that students with disabilities should be treated as individuals seeking equal opportunity for learning and independence, rather than as patients and second-class citizens.
Unfortunately, your planned actions would dismantle the support and accountability that states, schools, teachers, and families count on to meet the needs of students with disabilities. The Department of Education has unmatched expertise in protecting the rights of students with disabilities, aiding school districts in improving instructional practice for students of all abilities, and upholding federal accountability measures. Instead of valuing and building upon this expertise, you have gutted the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education. Your latest reported effort to illegally move IDEA responsibilities, oversight, and programming to another federal agency would further erode the protections that countless mothers, fathers, educators, advocates, and students with disabilities have fought for years to build.
We request that you provide detailed answers to the following questions by no later than November 14, 2025.
- What authority do you believe that you have to move IDEA programs or responsibilities to another agency, contrary to explicit statute and Congressional intent?
- To date, what steps have you or a member of your staff taken to move IDEA to another federal agency? Please provide all relevant documents.
- What analysis have you completed that supports your claim that moving IDEA to another federal agency would improve outcomes for students with disabilities?
- How have reductions in force in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the Office for Civil Rights impacted the Department of Education’s ability to fulfill its responsibilities under IDEA?
Once again, we urge you to immediately halt your efforts to illegally move IDEA responsibilities from the Department of Education to another federal agency, and we request that you redirect your efforts to rebuilding the Department of Education’s infrastructure that schools and districts rely on to help ensure that students with disabilities receive the support and services they are entitled to under federal law.
Sincerely,
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