By Aurora Dreger
The federal landscape of special education and civil rights enforcement is experiencing an unprecedented structural shift. At the Educating All Learners Alliance (EALA), we believe that policy changes are best understood through the lived experiences and expertise of the individuals navigating them on the ground.
In this installment of our Voices from the Field series, we talked with Dr. Jacqueline Rodriguez, CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD). Dr. Rodriguez provides an essential perspective on how moving special education and civil rights oversight out of the Department of Education impacts the daily realities for students with learning differences.
Context: In 2026, federal oversight shifted as the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) transitioned to Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) moved to the Department of Justice (DOJ). This ongoing interview series explores the real-world impact, systemic challenges, and community opportunities stemming from these structural moves.
Aurora Dreger (EALA): From your vantage point, what does moving special education and civil rights oversight out of the Education Department mean in practice for students and families?
Jacqueline Rodriguez (NCLD): For families, this is not about an office moving from one building to another. It is about whether the federal government will still have the education expertise and accountability needed to make sure students with disabilities get evaluations, IEP services, accommodations, and protections when they need them. IDEA only works for families when there is clear accountability behind it. If the people and systems responsible for that accountability are moved elsewhere, families deserve to know who is in charge and how their children’s rights will be protected.
Aurora Dreger (EALA): What are your core thoughts on the shift toward a medical model or potential shifts in public perception, and where do you see potential safeguards?
Jacqueline Rodriguez (NCLD): Students with disabilities are students first. The concern of moving special education closer to a health agency reinforces the wrong idea that disability is primarily a medical issue to be treated, rather than an educational issue that schools are required to support. They need access, instruction, accommodations, services, and high expectations in classrooms, not a system that views them only through a diagnosis.
Students with disabilities are not medical cases to be managed. They are students who have a right to learn, participate, and receive support in school. That has to stay at the center of any decision about IDEA.
Health expertise can play an important role for some students, but IDEA is an education law. The focus has to remain on whether students are learning, included, and receiving the services they need in school.
Aurora Dreger (EALA): How can the broader education community ensure that the individuals most affected remain heard, protected, and supported during this transition
Jacqueline Rodriguez (NCLD):Families should not have to decode a federal reorganization to know who is responsible for protecting their child’s rights. If services are delayed or denied, they need clear answers and a federal system that will respond. We have to keep bringing this back to students and families.
The question is not just where a program sits on an agency chart. The question is whether children will still get timely services, whether complaints will be taken seriously, and whether families will have clear answers when something goes wrong.
Promises that nothing will change are not enough. Families need to know that when a child is waiting for services, missing support, or facing discrimination there is still a clear system in place to respond.
Students don’t experience this as federal bureaucracy. They experience it as whether they get evaluated on time, whether their IEP is followed, whether they receive support in the classroom, and whether someone steps in when their rights are violated. THAT is what is at stake.
Showing the Path to Possible
At EALA, we remain steadfast in our commitment to non-partisan resource sharing, community collaboration, and amplifying the bright spots and vital perspectives within our network. A special thank you to Jacqueline Rodriguez and the team at NCLD for sharing their time and vital insights for this series.
What is your transition story? Every voice matters as we navigate this new chapter together. If you are a parent, practitioner, student, or advocate with thoughts, hopes, or questions regarding the OSERS and OCR structural moves, we want to hear from you.