That’s why the decision to move the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to the Department of Health and Human Services deserves an open mind—not immediate opposition.

Let’s start with an important fact: the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is not changing.

The rights, protections, and services guaranteed under IDEA remain the law. Students will still have IEPs. Schools will still be responsible for providing a free and appropriate public education. Parents will retain all procedural safeguards. The legal framework is not moving.

What has an opportunity to change is how well our systems work together.

And frankly, that’s overdue.

For years, vocational rehabilitation has helped many individuals prepare for employment. But employment outcomes for people with disabilities remain far too low. Only 42% of people with disabilities participate in the labor force, compared with a rate nearly twice as high among nondisabled prime-age adults. Too many students leave school without a clear path to a meaningful career, education, or training path. And often, there is a lack of a support system once they leave the K12 structure. Talented individuals remain underemployed despite their skills, education, and ambition.

A recent national poll conducted by Able Americans found that a majority of voters (58%) believe more should be done to address barriers facing Americans with disabilities who want to work and are able to do so. Doing more of the same will not solve that problem.

This move places special education and vocational rehabilitation at HHS, where the Administration for Community Living (ACL) already exists.

ACL already houses much of the nation’s disability infrastructure, including the Developmental Disabilities Network, Centers for Independent Living, Protection and Advocacy systems, State Councils on Developmental Disabilities, and other programs focused on helping people live, work, and thrive in their communities.

There is a precedent for this going well. Two smaller programs were moved from the Department of Education to ACL in the past: the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) and the Independent Living. Within ACL is the Administration on Disability (AoD), which is specifically focused on community integration.

For the first time, special education and vocational rehabilitation can be more directly connected to the broader systems that support people with disabilities across their lifespans. That alignment matters because education should not end at graduation, and vocational rehabilitation should not end at job placement.

Further, Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services, or HCBS, provide caregiving and other supports that help many people with disabilities live independently, work, and participate in their communities. For many people with disabilities, these supports are directly connected to whether they can pursue education, job training, or employment.

HCBS is overseen by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services within HHS. CMS and the AoD have long worked together on community-based services. Now, there is an opportunity to connect those efforts more directly with the federal education and workforce systems so people with disabilities can access the support they need to live, learn, and work in their communities.

The goal should be competitive careers, economic self-sufficiency, community participation, and lives defined by opportunity.

Will every aspect of this transition be perfect? Probably not. Outcomes should be measured and accountability should be demanded.

Success should not be defined by whether or not federal programs keep the same organizational chart. The real measurement is whether more students with disabilities successfully transition into adulthood, employment, and community life.

If this reorganization helps more people with disabilities build careers or integrate into their communities long-term then it will have been worth embracing.