The US Office of Special Education Programs: Ensuring Equitable Access to Education for Students with Disabilities

The U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is a critical unit within the U.S. Department of Education. Its overarching purpose is to strengthen and coordinate activities on behalf of students with disabilities, ensuring they receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education and services. OSEP is under the auspices of the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Education through the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS).

The Department of Education's Role in Special Education

Since its establishment by Congress in 1979, the Department of Education has been at the forefront of special education, charged with carrying out federal education laws. One of its key roles is to ensure that students with disabilities receive services tailored to meet their unique needs. The department is part of the executive branch of the federal government, operating as a cabinet-level agency. Congress put the Department of Education in charge of running special education at the federal level in 1979.

What the Department Does

The Department of Education performs several functions related to special education, including:

Administering and enforcing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): This law gives students with disabilities the right to a “free appropriate public education,” or FAPE.
Enforcing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973: This civil rights law protects students with disabilities from discrimination in schools. Schools need to provide supports - like accommodations - to give students equal access to learning as their peers.
Sending federal funds to states: These grants are specifically for special education programs. Congress sets the amount of money available.
Working with schools on IDEA compliance: The law requires schools to provide services to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities.
Investigating complaints of violations: The department investigates possible violations of IDEA and Section 504.

What the Department Doesn't Do

It is important to understand the limitations of the Department of Education's role. Specifically, the agency:

Doesn't create Individualized Education Programs (IEPs): Schools create IEPs to meet students’ needs. The department only helps enforce IEPs.
Doesn't choose students for special education services: But IDEA does set eligibility rules for schools to follow.
Doesn't direct a student’s individualized instruction: Again, decisions about instruction happen at the state and local levels.
Isn’t allowed to decide what is taught - or how: That’s the responsibility of states and local districts.

OSEP's Specific Responsibilities and Impact

OSEP provides leadership and support for professionals working with children with disabilities. Another critical role of OSEP is to protect the educational rights of children with disabilities from age three through twenty-one.

OSEP’s work helps to guarantee that students with learning and other disabilities receive individualized instruction, specialized services, and the supports they need to thrive in school by managing federal funding to states and districts, compliance and accountability monitoring, and developing policy guidance.

OSEP guidance letters and “best practice” resources assist educators as they work to remove those barriers and improve educational outcomes for students with disabilities.

Protecting Students' Rights: IDEA and Section 504

The department enforces two laws that protect students with disabilities: IDEA and Section 504. It does that through its Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Both laws are designed to give students with disabilities the same educational opportunities as other students. They’re both responsible for providing what’s called “free appropriate public education,” or FAPE. But they do it in different ways.

IDEA says schools must provide services to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities. The goal is to enable them to learn along with their peers as much as possible. (This concept is called “least restrictive environment.”)

Section 504 is a civil rights law that protects students with disabilities from discrimination.

Read also: Enhancing Education in Lake County

Congress set up OCR to investigate possible violations of these laws. Parents can file a complaint with the OCR within 180 days of the school’s violation that might lead to an investigation.

IDEA: A Cornerstone of Special Education

IDEA, which turns 50 this month, served about 8.4 million infants, toddlers, children and young adults with disabilities in 2023, the last year for which federal data is available.

States can also implement their own policies regarding special education services.

The Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) has been monitoring the government shut-down and the recent reports that nearly all staff at the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) have been notified of termination.

Challenges and Criticisms

Special education programs nationwide have been under stress for decades because of federal government underfunding. Adding to the special education pressures are severe special educator shortages.

Some critics of the Education Department's Office of Special Education Programs say the office needs to be overhauled so it can be more responsive to parents' concerns and school districts' needs. Others are calling for its complete elimination.

For example, there can be yearslong gaps between findings of IDEA noncompliance and resolutions for corrective action under the office's differentiated monitoring and support system. Additionally, several states have been repeatedly designated as "needs improvement" in meeting special education targets, according to the 2025 IDEA accountability ratings issued by the Education Department. When it comes to the federal government addressing special education concerns, noncompliance and ongoing low accountability ratings.

What Oettinger said she wishes is that districts and states would proactively comply with IDEA regulations.

Potential Changes and the Future of OSEP

The department is going through massive changes. The Secretary of Education is working towards having it shut down. But Congress would need to approve that.

President Donald Trump said in March that he would move oversight of “special needs” programs to the Department of Health and Human Services as part of his goal to shutter the Education Department. Under the plan, the Department of Labor will help administer elementary and secondary education programs and higher education grant programs.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon took to X on Oct. 15 to argue that the government shutdown itself makes the case for eliminating her department.

Meanwhile, a federal judge in the past week extended a pause to the Trump administration’s layoff orders for thousands of federal employees during the shutdown. That court order extends a temporary block the same judge put into place on Oct.

Within the past month, Democratic House and Senate leaders have penned letters to McMahon asking her to halt the erosion of OSEP staff and services. Nearly 60 organizations, including the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates and the Council of Administrators of Special Education, are demanding the Senate hold a hearing on the matter. The downsizing of the Education Department will "decimate implementation of key education and disability laws," according to their Oct.

Education Department officials have said that any shifting of federal special education oversight would not impact or interfere with services for students with disabilities. McMahon “is fully committed to protecting the federal funding streams that support our nation’s students with disabilities,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications, said in an Oct.

Concerns Regarding Potential Workforce Elimination

If OSEP’s workforce is eliminated, the ripple effects would be profound: schools could lose access to crucial federal guidance, states could struggle to meet their legal obligations, and families would have fewer places to turn for help navigating special education.

Voices in Support of OSEP

"That's one of the most important things that the Department of Education does, is help clarify roles and responsibilities of all the key players so that children can be successful," Neas said during an Oct.

"Every student deserves access to services that they need to learn and grow and succeed," Pringle said.

“Currently, OSEP collaborates with other offices focused on general education, educational research, civil rights of students with disabilities, postsecondary education and employment of persons with disabilities. This collaboration is essential to OSEP’s mission to empower states, districts, and other organizations to meet the diverse needs of every student by providing leadership, technical assistance and financial support,” said Stephanie Smith Lee, co-director of policy and advocacy at the National Down Syndrome Congress, who served as director of OSEP under President George W. Bush.

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