The Trump Administration on Tuesday announced a new plan to relocate multiple programs housed under the Department of Education to four other agencies within the federal government, the latest and most significant steps yet to achieve the president and Republicans’ longstanding goal of dismantling the agency altogether.
During a press call with reporters on Tuesday afternoon, a senior Department of Education official said the Department had signed partnership agreements with four other government agencies: Labor, Health and Human Services, Interior and State. While many of the programs being moved from the Education Department will remain technically under the Department’s oversight, they will be officially managed and administered by other agencies through interagency agreements, or IAAs.
“We look forward to having these as proof points for success and what education can look like without the Department of Education” the official said.
In a press release, the agency argued that “By partnering with agencies that are best positioned to deliver results for students and taxpayers, these IAAs will streamline federal education activities on legally required programs, reduce administrative burdens, and refocus programs and activities to better serve students and grantees.”
The Department says it is invoking the Economy Act to enforce the six new interagency agreements. That federal statute says the head of an agency can place an order with a major organizational unit within the same agency or another agency for goods and services under certain conditions.
“The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.
Per the new agreement, the Department of Labor will take on a greater role in administering federal K-12 programs as well as postsecondary education and workforce development programs. The Labor Department will manage grant funds, provide technical assistance, and integrate postsecondary education programs into the suite of programs the it already administers.
The Department of Health and Human Services will now handle Foreign Medical Accreditation and a new program called the Child Care Access Means Parents in School Partnership, which looks to support parents enrolled in college with childcare needs.
The Department of the Interior will administer Indian Education programs at all levels as well as career technical education and vocational rehabilitation. The Department will also serve as the main point of contact for Tribes and Native students.
The agreement with the Department of State will feature a new International Education and Foreign Language Studies Partnership designed to make the Fulbright Scholar Program more efficient by improving the grant process and allowing the State Department to take official management of America’s flagship international education program. The program is already sponsored by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
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The changes at the nation's highest educational body come after President Trump signed an Executive Order in March aimed at closing the 46-year-old Department, though even Trump administration officials have acknowledged a wholesale closure of the agency can only be achieved by an act of Congress. Hollowing out the Department’s key responsibilities could enable the administration to achieve its goals without Congressional oversight.
“In his ongoing rampage against everything that makes our country what it is, President Trump is now acting on the plan to destroy the Department of Education,” Lisa Gilbert, Co-President of the progressive advocacy group Public Citizen, said in a statement. “Short of toppling the Statue of Liberty, there is perhaps nothing that could capture the agenda of this administration more than what they are in fact doing right now: Making an enemy out of education itself. This contemptible assault on American education must be condemned by everyone who strives towards a prosperous future for our country and our children.”
Congressional Democrats were also condemnatory of the move, with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) saying in a statement the administration is “waging an illegal assault on public school kids. Instead of working to lower costs for Americans, the Trump administration is hellbent on punishing underserved students. Linda McMahon is a liar who knows she doesn’t have the power to single-handedly dismantle the Department of Education — she admitted that to me herself.”
“Only Congress has the authority to close the Education Department, and I will not let that happen on my watch,” Warren added.
The changes to the Department mirror an effort by the administration earlier this year when it signed an agreement to move some career, technical and adult education grants from the Education Department to the Labor Department. Like the six new programs announced on Tuesday, the Education Department held on to oversight of the program, with management falling to Labor.
After the March announcement, a coalition of advocacy groups, educators and school districts sued to try to block the administration’s moves. While a district court initially granted an order temporarily blocking the efforts to fire Education Department employees en mass, the block was later stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Tuesday’s announcement will almost certainly factor into the ongoing legal disputes over the administration’s attempt to dismantle the department.
