The planned move of federal special education staff to the Department of Health and Human Services is entering a consequential phase: Kelly Rogers, who has overseen the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services since May 2026, told Education Department employees Wednesday that she would resign effective Friday, September 11. Her departure comes one day after OSERS staff were scheduled to relocate to the HHS building on Thursday, September 10, as the Trump administration presses ahead with a broader effort to dismantle the Education Department.
Rogers' resignation was first reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting, based on NPR reporters' review of internal Education Department emails. Rogers told colleagues she was moving home to Florida to take what she described as a "great opportunity" and be closer to her family, according to the report. Education Department spokesperson Savannah Newhouse confirmed the departure to NPR. Rogers also told colleagues the team could continue improving outcomes for people with disabilities through the HHS partnership, the report said.
A Department Already in Upheaval
The timing places Rogers' exit squarely inside a period of sweeping change at the Education Department, which has been experiencing upheaval and downsizing under the current administration, per the OPB report. Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced on June 16 that the department would move OSERS to Health and Human Services and shift the Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice, using interagency agreements rather than seeking new legislation, according to Forbes. Forbes reported that the administration initiated these transfers without congressional approval, placing special education oversight under HHS and civil rights enforcement under the Justice Department.
Disability rights advocates condemned the shift of special education staff to a different agency, according to the OPB report. That criticism echoes concerns raised months earlier about HHS's medical orientation, as reported by Education Week. Education Week also reported on the department's plans for special education oversight and enforcement.
Why the legal and historical context matters
The proposed move would change the federal home of an office whose current structure dates to the creation of the Education Department. The 1979 Department of Education Organization Act established an Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services within the department, according to the U.S. Government Publishing Office. The National Archives also records that a 1967 reorganization within the former Department of Health, Education, and Welfare consolidated vocational rehabilitation with welfare and aging functions. That was a broader internal HEW arrangement, not the same as the current proposal to move OSERS from the Education Department to HHS. The Education Department's responsibilities under IDEA include annual state determinations based on each state's State Performance Plan and Annual Performance Report. In its 2024 framework, the department said those determinations weigh both educational results and compliance data under Section 616(d), and it described the oversight as affecting 7.5 million infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities, according to the department's IDEA determination materials. Those materials establish the existing oversight framework but do not resolve whether the administration can transfer those statutory responsibilities without congressional action.
Administration Points to Head Start and Health Resources
Speaking at an August conference, Rogers and Secretary McMahon argued that partnering with HHS would leverage early childhood programs like Head Start and behavioral health resources to improve outcomes for disabled students, according to K-12 Dive. Ahead of the transition, Díaz-Harrison joined HHS's Administration on Disabilities in January after serving as a Trump appointee at Education, according to NEA Today.
Congress Pushes Back on Unilateral Transfers
Lawmakers have not gone along quietly. The Senate HELP Committee voted in July to advance bipartisan legislation cosponsored by Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski that would block the Education Department from transferring special education oversight to external agencies, according to Disability Scoop. Congress had already approved $15.49 billion for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in the fiscal year 2026 spending bill, adding report language that prohibits unilateral transfers of education funding among federal agencies, per the National Center for Learning Disabilities.
IDEA supports early intervention and special education services for more than 7.5 million eligible children and youth nationwide, according to the First Five Years Fund. Federal appropriations have long fallen short of the law's original funding goals, the National Education Association has noted. That funding gap has left state and local authorities to cover the remaining costs of complying with federal requirements.
Even so, the Education Department expanded some special education programs before the restructuring took hold. In May, the department released $144 million in additional IDEA Part C funding and issued new guidance allowing states to serve expectant parents of children with disabilities, K-12 Dive reported at the time. That expansion came under Rogers' tenure, just months before her abrupt resignation and the office's move to HHS.
NPR's Cory Turner contributed reporting to the original account of Rogers' resignation, which was edited by Nirvi Shah. As OSERS staff prepare for their move to the HHS building, the fight between executive agency actions and congressional intent over the future of federal special education oversight remains unresolved.
