The Trump administration’s decision this week to put Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in charge of special education programs has sparked a sharp backlash from advocates for students with disabilities, who say the move will hurt children and that his views on autism make him unfit for the job.
Mr. Kennedy said earlier this year that children with autism would never hold a job, play baseball or go on a date. He quickly walked back the remarks, saying he was only speaking about the most severe cases — only to insist the next day that special education should be moved into his department. “They’re health-related programs rather than particularly educated programs,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Advocates for students with disabilities said that Mr. Kennedy’s comments show how the change puts disabled students at risk of being viewed as medical conditions to be treated instead of as boys and girls to be educated.
“It shows a fundamental lack of understanding of who kids with disabilities are, how they can be successful in school and how their futures can be very bright,” said Katy Neas, chief executive officer of The Arc, a national support group for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The move is part of an extraordinary effort from the Trump administration to dismantle the Education Department, which supporters have said would improve government efficiency, lead to better results for students and satisfy a decades-long promise from Republicans to shutter the agency.
Closing the department entirely requires approval from Congress, which has focused on other matters this term. In the meantime, the Trump administration has transferred tens of billions in Education Department programs to the six different federal executive agencies, which includes health and human services.
Courtney Parella Spencer, the health department’s top spokeswoman, said Mr. Kennedy “strongly agrees” with the idea that “a child’s disability isn’t viewed as a medical condition that needs to be treated.” She said health department experts had “significant accumulated knowledge serving individuals with disabilities,” and would pool their expertise across programs to ensure that students’ needs are met.
“This partnership is about making federal support systems work better for children and families,” Ms. Spencer said, “while fully preserving the legal protections and educational rights guaranteed under federal law.”
Congress could block the changes, which some members oppose, but such a move does not appear to have broad support.
Advocates for disabled students battled for decades to convince local schools, state leaders and federal lawmakers to educate children with a range of disabilities, including physical limitations like deafness and blindness and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, alongside other students. That effort culminated in 1998 with changes to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that guaranteed disabled students the opportunity for a free, appropriate public education.
But the advocates said they have lately had to redouble their efforts to protect the rights of disabled children to receive quality public education.
Last year, in an interview on Fox News during her first week as education secretary, Ms. McMahon failed to come up with the name of the landmark law for disabled students. For many, the moment underscored the lack of experience that Ms. McMahon, a former pro-wrestling executive, brought to the job.
Edward M. Kennedy Jr., a civil rights advocate for people with disabilities and cousin of Secretary Kennedy, said in an email that he shared concerns about shifting special education programs to the Health and Human Services Department.
His biggest worry, he said, was “the policy and philosophical shift away from viewing children with disabilities as having strengths, potential and a right to be integrated into classrooms.
“This shift to HHS reverts toward an antiquated, ‘medical model’ of disability policy that views disabled children as ‘sick’ and in need of health care, not an education,” Mr. Kennedy, a health care regulatory lawyer, said.
But concerns cross partisan lines.
Margaret Spellings, a former education secretary under President George W. Bush, described Secretary Kennedy’s comments as “a head-scratcher” and said she was deeply concerned about confusion caused by scattering education services across the federal government.
“I’m struggling with the rationale around all of this,” Ms. Spellings said, about dismantling the education department. “Is it just for a photo op of a padlock on the Department of Education building? To leap to the conclusion that this is going to enhance student achievement, I’m unconvinced.”
Beyond those broad concerns, there are particular concerns about Mr. Kennedy, who has rejected much of the science behind vaccines and autism.
Maria Town, the president of the American Association of People With Disabilities, said Mr. Kennedy’s views on autism, ADHD and mental illness, and his embrace of unconventional treatments, worry her. Ms. Town has cerebral palsy and said she benefited from federal protections as a student.
“Are children with autism going to be forced to engage in practices that we know don’t work?” Ms. Town said. “Kids with disabilities already get medical care from their doctors and health care practitioners. They deserve a chance to be students and to engage in the classroom like any other kid.”
Stephanie Smith Lee, who, during the George W. Bush administration, ran the Office of Special Education Programs, which is being moved to the Health and Human Services Department, said the change created more bureaucracy and risked damaging educational opportunities for students.
“Children with disabilities are not a diagnosis,” said Ms. Smith Lee, now the co-director of policy and advocacy at National Down Syndrome Congress. “These are students first and they need to be educated and they need to be educated alongside their general education peers — and the federal offices that oversee the education need to be in the same department.”
Ms. Smith Lee said she was holding out hope that Republican leaders in control of Congress would block the changes.
Republicans in the House and Senate have shown little appetite for confronting the Trump administration’s moves. But there was some skepticism expressed on Wednesday in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which oversees both the health and education departments.
Senator Bill Cassidy, the panel’s chairman, said he opposed moving special education programs to the Health and Human Services Department.
Mr. Cassidy said at the hearing that he would work with Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, on legislation aimed at blocking the move, which the committee would consider at its meeting in July. But Mr. Cassidy is a short-timer in Congress; he recently lost his Republican primary race in Louisiana to a Trump-backed challenger.
“I will publicly commit to working with him for the next markup in July at finding something which is an accommodation for everyone’s concern,” Mr. Cassidy said.
