The U.S. Department of Education began transferring core civil-rights investigation and special-education responsibilities to other federal agencies, advancing the Trump administration’s plan to shrink the department’s role in public education. Education’s Office for Civil Rights will work through the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services is shifting to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In parallel, the administration announced separate changes affecting student privacy enforcement and additional equity-support functions. Education officials said the changes will not affect whether families can seek relief, but advocacy groups argue the DOJ-centered model could slow or reduce protections for students—especially for students with disabilities. For colleges and K-12 districts, the near-term impact is operational: OCR and special-education compliance processes will be restructured across agencies, with new coordination on staffing, investigative timelines, and how cases move from administrative enforcement to litigation. The move is also part of a broader pattern of interagency agreements already transferring responsibility for multiple education and workforce programs. Institutions dependent on federal grant compliance will need to monitor how complaint pathways, enforcement standards, and guidance from ED evolve during the transition.