Senator Murray Urges Congress to Stand Up for Students with Disabilities, Slams Trump Decimation of Department of Education

ICYMI: Murray Blasts Trump and McMahon's Decision to Abandon Students with Disabilities & the Administration's Legal Responsibility to Protect Students' Civil Rights

Murray calls on Republican colleagues to join her in stopping illegal transfer of ED's offices of special education and civil rights

Murray made clear she will not let any legislation that seeks to abolish the Department of Education make any progress in the Senate

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Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee, held a virtual press conference to sound the alarm on Education Secretary Linda McMahon's plan to illegally transfer the responsibilities of the Department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through Inter-Agency Agreements (IAA).

Senator Murray was joined by Katy Neas, CEO of the Arc and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the U.S. Department of Education under the Biden administration; Stephanie Smith Lee, Policy & Advocacy Co-Director for the National Down Syndrome Congress and former Director of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education under the George W. Bush administration; Catherine Lhamon, Executive Director for the Edley Center on Law and Democracy at UC Berkeley and former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama and Biden administrations; Dr. Lanya Elsa, Special Education Researcher, Family Support Professional, and mother from Washington state of two sons who are deafblind; and Luisa Sparrow, special education teacher at Oliver Hazard Perry School and 2025 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year.

"I have believed for a long time we need to be doing a lot more for students with disabilities. Programs like IDEA are not funded at nearly the level they should be," said Senator Murray. "Just talk to any parent of students with disabilities-they'll tell you the system is not perfect. But what Trump is doing threatens to make things so much worse. We have seen how this administration operates-it's been haphazard and totally destructive. The agencies taking over these programs simply do not have the expertise and so many of the experts who oversaw these programs were fired or pushed out by Trump already. If Trump breaks the programs our kids with disabilities rely on, the outcomes will be grim… America has to stand up for kids with disabilities right now. This is not a partisan issue… I am calling on my Republican colleagues to listen to the parents of kids with disabilities. Listen to the teachers in our schools. Dismantling the Department of Education-continuing on this path-will be devastating for kids with disabilities in America."

"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," said Katy Neas, CEO, The Arc of the United States and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the U.S. Department of Education under the Biden administration. "Moving special education to HHS and civil rights enforcement to DOJ would split apart the offices responsible for making disability rights real in schools, leaving families chasing answers across the federal government instead of getting accountability from one education agency."

"Families are counting on Congress to reject the misguided notion that dismantling the U.S. Department of Education will reduce bureaucracy," saidStephanie Smith Lee, Policy & Advocacy Co-Director for the National Down Syndrome Congress and former Director of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education under the George W. Bush administration. "I joined a bipartisan group of former officials who led federal special education under Republican and Democratic presidents since the Nixon Administration in urging Congress to stop the transfer of special education to another department. For decades, Congress has repeatedly reaffirmed that the Department of Education should oversee special education because students with disabilities need strong federal leadership, accountability, and oversight. Congress should not abandon that bipartisan commitment in favor of a disruptive experiment that creates confusion for families, burdens states and school districts, and adds more bureaucracy-not less."

"After returning millions of dollars rather than spend it on civil rights protections for students in schools, terminating more than half of civil rights enforcement staff, and resolving a historic low in cases leaving students dangerously unprotected, now the Department of Education commits to a system designed to fail by agreeing to transfer its core civil rights enforcement functions to another agency with insufficient staff or expertise to meet the volume of need our nation's students experience in their education journeys," said Catherine E. Lhamon, Executive Director of the Edley Center on Law and Democracy at University of California, Berkeley School of Law and former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama and Biden administrations. "This move, if unchecked, will at best only further delay justice and relegate students to federal afterthoughts rather than treating them like the valuable learners they are, who deserve Congress' promise that they will not experience the ugly discriminatory harms our laws protect them against."

"As both a special educator and the mother of two sons who are deafblind, I have seen firsthand what fifty years of federal protections and educational expertise have made possible for children with disabilities," said Dr. Lanya Elsa, Special Education Researcher, Family Support Professional, and mother of two sons who are deafblind from Washington state. "My sons are now a college graduate and a college-bound student-but fifty years ago, children like mine were often segregated or institutionalized. We cannot turn back that progress. Special education deserves to remain within the Department of Education, overseen by leaders who understand that children like mine are not problems to be fixed-they are students who belong in our schools, alongside their peers. Moving special education programs to HHS and fragmenting civil rights enforcement puts at risk the expertise and accountability that families depend on. This is no longer about my sons. It is about every child coming behind them, and we owe those children the same opportunities to learn, thrive, and belong."

"Students with disabilities have a civil right to the supports that will help them learn as much as possible in school, in learning spaces that include their general education peers," said Luisa Sparrow, special education teacher at Oliver Hazard Perry School and 2025 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. "I'm here to advocate for my students, and for all students with disabilities, by highlighting the harm caused by moving special education to the Department of Health and Human Services. Isolating special education from general education in this way sends a damaging message that special education is about meeting healthcare needs rather than learning needs, and that it is separate from the main purpose of school."

OCR is charged with enforcing federal civil rights laws to protect students' rights in the classroom, and the Department of Education Organization Act of 1979 mandates the existence of the Office for Civil Rights at the Education Department to carry out these responsibilities.

Last year, the Trump administration thoughtlessly eliminated more than half of the staff in the Office for Civil Rights and closed half of the regional field offices, and in the time since, there has been a precipitous drop-off in the resolution of students' cases. In 2025, the Department reached the lowest number of resolutions in 12 years and reached zero resolutions for students facing serious incidents including sexual harassment, sexual violence, seclusion, restraint, racial harassment, and discriminatory school discipline. Senator Murray has mobilized against the administration's efforts to hollow out OCR, called out how it's hurt students and families, and she's repeatedly pressed Secretary McMahon on the issue.

OSERS is charged with implementing and enforcing the Rehabilitation Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which mandate that students with disabilities get the free appropriate public education and independence they deserve. In April, Senator Murray pressed Secretary McMahon on her plans to potentially offload OSERS' responsibilities and told McMahon: "That is exactly why these parents and advocates are spitting mad because what they want to make sure is that their child with a disability has an education."

Senator Murray has aggressively pushed back against Secretary McMahon's efforts to dismantle the Department, including through the illegal use of IAAs, and she fought to insert ironclad language in the fiscal year 2026 funding bill for the Department that would bar Secretary McMahon from using IAAs to dismantle the Department-but Republicans refused to include new, binding language that would block arrangements like the ones announced in June. Last week, Senator Murray blasted House Republicans for working to advance a slate of legislative proposals to rubberstamp the administration's efforts to dismantle the Department of Education-Murray made clear she will not let any legislation that seeks to abolish the Department of Education make any progress in the Senate.

Senator Murray's remarks, as delivered, are below:

"Thank you for joining us today. I am really pleased to be here today with a parent, a teacher, and some experts from both Democratic and Republican administrations.

"We all know that public education in America is not going to get better by dismantling the Department of Education. But Trump is determined to raze it to the ground. Instead of helping kids get a great education, instead of supporting the unique needs of all our children, the Trump administration is spending its time, its energy, and your tax dollars on illegally trying to shutter the Department of Education.

"Now I am fighting tooth and nail against any efforts to dismantle the Department of Education, but I am especially concerned about what this could mean for all students, especially students with disabilities in America.

"Trump and Linda McMahon have fired and pushed out over 2,000 staff at the Department, and with them decades of institutional knowledge and that includes the staff they need to enforce our civil rights laws for students with disabilities. They have created absolute chaos and pandemonium for school districts across the country by holding up federal funding that our communities rely on, and last month, they announced they are illegally scattering federal education programs that support students with disabilities all over the government with different agencies managing programs that they have no business or expertise running.

"And you know who gets left behind? Students and their parents, who break their backs and lose sleep worrying about how to make sure their kid with a disability gets the individualized support they need.

"It is outrageous and completely unacceptable that Donald Trump and Linda McMahon want to pass off the essential work of the Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice, and specifically to a division at DOJ that is being run by a right-wing extremist. And it is outrageous they are abandoning their obligation to manage the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and handing it over to RFK Jr at HHS-everyone who is here today knows these offices are critical, but they are especially important for students with disabilities.

"I have believed for a long time we need to be doing a lot more for students with disabilities. Programs like IDEA are not funded at nearly the level they should be. Just talk to any parent of students with disabilities-they'll tell you the system is not perfect. But what Trump is doing threatens to make things so much worse. We have seen how this administration operates-it's been haphazard and totally destructive. The agencies taking over these programs simply do not have the expertise and so many of the experts who oversaw these programs were fired or pushed out by Trump already. If Trump breaks the programs our kids with disabilities rely on, the outcomes will be grim.

"For far too long, these kids were outright denied the education they need and deserve right here in America. Most Americans don't realize that as recently as the 1970s schools in the United States only educated about one in five children with disabilities, and a whole lot of states had laws excluding certain students, including kids who were deaf or blind or had some kind of intellectual disability.

"That is so wrong, and while progress has not been perfect-we have made tremendous progress since then. Over 50 years ago, parents and educators fought to enshrine basic protections in federal law to guarantee their right to a quality education-and to create mechanisms in law to right wrongs when they are denied the resources or support they deserve. That victory and many others since have ushered in a lot of hard-won progress-but instead of building on it, this administration is intent on rolling back the clock to a much darker time.

"It's enough to make your blood boil. We cannot go backwards, but that's exactly where this administration is taking us.

"Thanks to the Trump administration there is already a massive backlog of cases at the Office for Civil Rights and that list will just get longer. And under this administration, if a kid with disabilities is discriminated against, they are almost certainly not going to have their rights protected. Last year, OCR reached nearly 80 percent fewer disability discrimination resolution agreements compared to 2024. That's not by accident, it's by design-thanks to Trump's staffing cuts and dismantling of the Department of Education.

"And it gets even worse. Let's talk about RFK Jr. RFK Jr. should have nothing to do with making sure students with disabilities are getting the high-quality public education they deserve and are entitled to. The idea of him being put in charge of special education for our kids is absolutely appalling. Earlier this year, RFK Jr. went on a sick and offensive tirade spreading lies and taking cheap shots at kids with Autism. He said 'autism destroys families' and is an 'individual tragedy as well.' He talked about how kids with autism would never have a job, pay taxes, write a poem, or even go on a date. Those remarks are horrifying, and they are simply false. And they display a total lack of respect for the dignity, the humanity, and the limitless potential every child possesses to make their own way in this world.

"No way should RFK Jr. be in charge of programs meant to help students with disabilities learn, grow, and thrive.

"Look, as Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee, I have a lot of say over how we spend taxpayer dollars-and you can bet I will fight to protect funding for the Department of Education. I have also fought to outright stop Trump from spinning off these critical education programs to other departments that have zero relevant expertise. But we are still deep in the minority, and in last year's funding bills, Republicans refused to work with us to stop Trump's destruction of the Department of Education. But with Trump and McMahon's latest efforts to undercut the programs students with disabilities rely on, I am really hoping we can rally parents, teachers, and communities across America-in red states and blue.

"America has to stand up for kids with disabilities right now. This is not a partisan issue.

"So, I am desperately hoping this will be a wake-up call to my Republican colleagues who I know do care deeply about students with disabilities. I can fight to increase funding for special education in our spending bills-absolutely. But I can't wave a magic wand on my own to stop the illegal transferring of special education to RFK Jr.'s HHS and student civil rights protections to DOJ.

"So what can we do? Well, a lot actually. With enough Republican support we could undo some of this destruction, whether in our funding bills or otherwise. I am calling on my Republican colleagues to listen to the parents of kids with disabilities. Listen to the teachers in our schools. Dismantling the Department of Education-continuing on this path-will be devastating for kids with disabilities in America.

"Join me in putting a stop to this before it's too late.

"Finally, I want to address legislation we've seen in the House of Representatives that would rubberstamp much of the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the Department of Education. As long as this former preschool teacher is a United States Senator, every one of those bills is dead on arrival. I'm very pleased to be joined by some of those very parents and teachers that every member of Congress ought to be listening to."

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