WASHINGTON D.C. — U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) joined her Senate Democratic colleagues in demanding the Trump administration put students first, follow the law, and immediately reverse course on transferring special education programs and civil rights enforcement out of the Department of Education (ED). These latest moves are part of the Trump administration’s explicit effort to dismantle ED, threatening key funding, support and services for students, schools, and families nationwide.
“The administration’s latest attempts to dismantle the Department of Education through the four Interagency Agreements (IAA) announced June 16, 2026 are outrageous and put the educational outcomes of students and their rights in the classroom at risk,” wrote the Senators in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
“Special education and vocational rehabilitation are education programs. Any attempt to move these programs to HHS would fundamentally alter the purposes of these services, upending fifty years of work that took place at the federal, state, and local level to improve educational and employment outcomes for people with disabilities,” wrote the Senators. “It appears the administration values its backward goal of dismantling ED over the faithful execution of the law and improving opportunities and outcomes for children, youth, and students with disabilities.”
“We have a simple demand: follow our nation’s education and appropriations laws as Congress wrote them to protect students’ most basic right to a quality education. More than 80 education, disability, parent, and civil rights groups have vocally opposed the recent IAAs and other departmental changes. We call on this administration to immediately cease implementing these IAAs, fully implement IDEA and the Rehabilitation Act as Congressionally directed, and take immediate action to strengthen civil rights enforcement—instead of burying students’ cases behind more bureaucracy. Our students and their families deserve nothing less,” concluded the Senators.
This letter was led by Senators Baldwin, Murray, and Sanders and co-signed by Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Angus King (I-ME), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Chris Coons (D-DE), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Mark Warner (D-VA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Peter Welch (D-VT), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Tina Smith (D-MN), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), John Fetterman (D-PA), Gary Peters (D-MI), and Michael Bennet (D-CO).
A full version of this letter is available here.
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