Top Special Ed Official Steps Down as Staff Moves to Health Department

Since May, Kelly Rogers has had the difficult job of making parents of students with disabilities feel better about the Trump administration’s plan to relocate oversight of special education services.

On Wednesday, she abruptly stepped down, just as roughly 100 staff members from the office handling the day-to-day management of those programs move from the Department of Education to the Department of Health and Human Services. 

“Acting Assistant Secretary Rogers is returning to her home state of Florida to take on a great opportunity and be closer to her family,” Savannah Newhouse, Education Department press secretary, said in an email. “We thank her for all of her hard work and dedication to bettering education and employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities.” 

Rogers, who oversees the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, or OSERS, joined the department after leading Florida’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. She stepped in to implement the department’s effort to give HHS more control over services for students with disabilities. With HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s controversial comments about people with autism, parents have been strongly opposed to the move. He has linked autism to vaccines and environmental toxins and suggested children with autism won’t grow up to live productive lives.

As the mother of a son with autism, she said she could relate to parents’ worries and tried to project calm in the face of what she called “false and misleading information spreading online” about the potential impact of the handover to HHS.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act “is an educational law, not a medical law,” she said in a July video. “This partnership does not and cannot change that. Your child’s rights to a free, appropriate public education remain fully protected.”

But she struggled to gain support from most advocacy organizations, who are concerned that the move, part of President Donald Trump’s long-range plan to eliminate the Education Department, would create confusion for districts and families. The department did not respond to questions about who would replace her. 

On Wednesday, the department distributed a newsletter from Erin McHugh. deputy director of the Office of Special Education Programs, who shared a report from the office’s August conference in Arlington, Virginia. The agreement with HHS, she wrote, will increase “access to critical wraparound services and the use of research to inform early intervention and special education practices.”

But members of Congress are also skeptical and have taken steps to prevent the transfer. In late July, the Senate education committee advanced a bipartisan bill that would keep oversight of K-12 and services for students with disabilities at the Education Department. So far, it’s not scheduled for a full Senate vote. Last week, House members introduced a companion bill, but Republican leaders haven’t scheduled a mark-up. 

Meanwhile, the process of “detailing” education staff to other agencies as part of 14 interagency agreements has accelerated. 

Along with OSERS relocating to HHS this week, several teams from the Office of Civil Rights will move next week to the Department of Justice. That follows the relocation of career and technical education staff to the Department of Labor last year and more than 60 employees from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education who joined them last month.

In addition, some Education Department offices are moving to other government spaces so the Department of Energy can take over the Lyndon B. Johnson building. Throughout the process, the union representing Education Department employees, has argued that the interagency agreements are illegal and inefficient.

“These moves to new facilities and the interagency agreements only make it harder for federal workers to do their jobs on behalf of the American public,” Rachel Gittleman, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, said in a statement Tuesday. “This is an insult to the tens of millions of students and families who rely on Education Department services and the taxpayers who count on federal oversight to prevent waste, fraud and abuse.”

Rogers’ resignation came as a surprise to some advocates who want to ensure there is no disruption in services.

“Having the OSERS leader step down during this transition from the Department of Education to HHS adds chaos and uncertainty, raising concerns among educators, families and advocates,” said Chad Rummel, CEO of the Council for Exceptional Children. “Department of Education staff should be focusing on supporting educators, strengthening special education, and improving outcomes for students with disabilities, rather than getting bogged down in reporting structures, internal agreements and unclear priorities.”

The Council of Administrators of Special Education, the professional organization for district special education officials, was also unaware of Rogers’ departure. The group said it “ hopes her successor is appointed quickly and has the experience and deep expertise needed to administer education programs for students with disabilities.”