Shiwali Patel, senior director of education justice at the National Women’s Law Center, called the moves “a clear violation of the Department of Education Organization Act that Congress passed decades ago.”

“To say that moving these functions to other agencies will still allow the work to continue, I mean, that’s just not going to happen,” Patel said. “This is going to make it more complicated for children and families who want to file complaints and for those who have pending complaints.”