06/22/2026
ACTION ALERT
DEC members and EC/EI/ECSE Community,
National Call-In Day to oppose moving IDEA out of the U.S. Department of Education
Call your member of Congress to tell them you oppose moving special education out of the U.S. Department of Education
DEC is joining other disability advocacy groups, including and in partnership with our Parent Centers partners across the country in a National Call-In Day on Thursday, June 25, to oppose the U.S. Department of Education’s recent transfer of OSERS (the agency that oversees the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We also oppose the move of the Office for Civil Rights to the U.S. Department of Justice.
You can help by calling your U.S. senators and representatives and asking them to urge the U.S. Department of Education to reverse this decision. (Please call rather than email to have the most impact!). Use the links above or call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
Resources:
https://bit.ly/STOP-THE-MOVE-IDEA
Sample call script
Once connected, you can speak to whoever answers the phone using the following script:
Hi, my name is ______ and I live in ________ (City and State). I am a (parent of a child with a disability/educator/concerned community member, etc.) calling to express my opposition to the U.S. Department of Education moving special education to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Special education programs are education programs first and should be administered by an agency with that expertise. Additionally, moving the Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice further fragments oversight of special education and the rights of students with disabilities to a free, appropriate public education. Moving these programs risks disrupting services, creating confusion for states and districts, and weakening the federal commitment to ensuring students with disabilities have access to the supports and services they need to succeed.
I urge the Member to publicly call on the Administration to reverse this decision and keep OSERS and the Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Education. Families and schools rely on OSERS’ education-focused expertise to support the implementation of IDEA and protect the rights of students with disabilities.
Will the Member speak out and urge the Administration to reverse its decision to move OSERS out of the Department of Education? Please let (congress member’s name) know how important this issue is to their constituents. Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your help. Please share this alert with others in your home, school, and community.
