(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Education on Tuesday announced six interagency agreements that would transfer some of its offices to other government agencies. The moves mark a “major step forward” in downsizing the department and returning education to the states, a senior department official said.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon touted the “bold action” her agency is taking to accomplish the mission of putting herself out of a job.
“Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission,” McMahon wrote in a statement. “As we partner with these agencies to improve federal programs, we will continue to gather best practices in each state through our 50-state tour, empower local leaders in K-12 education, restore excellence to higher education, and work with Congress to codify these reforms. Together, we will refocus education on students, families, and schools — ensuring federal taxpayer spending is supporting a world-class education system.”
Under the agreements, the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education’s programs as well as sections of the Office of Postsecondary Education, including higher education grant programs and institution-based grant programs, will be co-managed by the Department of Labor, according to the senior department official.
The Office of Indian Education will be administered by the Interior Department and child care access — which would improve on-campus child care support for parents enrolled in college — and foreign medical accreditation will go to the Health and Human Services, and international and foreign language services is moving to the State Department, the senior department official said on a call with reporters.
The department official said the agency has broad authority to move the services and explained that policies and oversight made by these offices will be vested and remain at the Department of Education. However, grant processing will be housed with the partner agencies, the department official stressed on the call.
Interagency agreements are a frequently used tool and the Education Department has engaged with other partner agencies more than 200 times to procure various services of other partner agencies over the years, the senior department official said.
The senior department official did not have a timeline for when the agreements would officially start.
Meanwhile, the statutory offices that resolve civil rights complaints, serve students with disabilities, and handle the nation’s $1.6 trillio student loan portfolio were not included in Tuesday’s announcement but the senior department official did not rule out future moves.
“OCR [Office of Civil Rights] is not one of the IAAs that we are announcing today,” the department official noted, adding “OCR, just as with [Offices of Special Education Programs and the Rehabilitative Services Administration] and [Federal Student Aid], we are exploring options and the best plans for the future.”
Critics quickly condemned the announcement.
National Parents Union (NPU) President Keri Rodrigues called the partnerships a “disaster,” calling on lawmakers to defend students impacted by the partnerships.
“By destabilizing the Department of Education, the Administration is undermining America’s long-term ability to compete, innovate, and lead on the world stage,” Rodrigues wrote in a statement to ABC News. “Congress must reject this misguided action and defend the rights, futures, and global potential of the students they serve.”
On Capitol Hill, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said the Trump administration is “hellbent” on punishing underserved students.
But House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., said the status quo is broken and praised the Trump administration on making good on its promise to fix the Department of Education.
“It’s time to get our nation’s students back on track,” Walberg wrote in a statement, adding, “It’s time to return education to those who are most committed to students’ success: their communities.”
In recent weeks, the department used social media posts and op-eds to explain its intentions. McMahon suggested it would be a “treat” to close the agency she leads in a Halloween post on X. Earlier, on the agency’s 46th anniversary, McMahon said the department needed an “eviction notice” because of ballooning spending, failing reading and math scores, and bloated bureaucracy in Washington.
A few of the non-statutory functions of the department have already been moved. The agency started a workforce development partnership with the Department of Labor in McMahon’s efforts to shift programs and responsibilities to partner agencies. One of the programs helping educate the next generation of farmers has been transferred to the Department of Agriculture under Secretary Brooke Rollins.
The long-expected move inched President Donald Trump closer to his goal of shuttering the department and returning education decision-making to the states. However, dismantling the agency completely would take an act of Congress and 60 Senate votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster.
Trump chose McMahon, the former WWE president and CEO, to put herself out of a job.
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