The Trump administration is taking bold action to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. Officials say six offices inside the department will be shifted to other federal agencies under formal agreements.
Earlier this month, Education Secretary Linda McMahon described the plan in an op-ed in USA Today. “We’ll peel back the layers of federal bureaucracy by partnering with agencies that are better suited to manage programs.”
It seems as if the time for the shift has come.
Under the agreement, programs now handled by the offices for Elementary & Secondary Education and Post-Secondary Education will be moved to agencies such as the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Interior, and State. Among the funding streams affected is the $18 billion Title I program for high-poverty K–12 schools, according to PBS News.
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Supporters of the plan say it will reduce red-tape and give more control back to the states. But critics are alarmed, arguing that moving these programs to agencies without a primary focus on education could disrupt services for vulnerable students.
“The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” McMahon said in her official statement.
Yet some, like higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz, is deeply concerned about the moves made by the authorities, per CNBC. “They are attempting to hollow out the U.S. Department of Education, leaving behind a shell of the original organization,” he said.
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The Department has been quietly preparing for this shift for months. Earlier this year, an inter-agency agreement moved adult and technical education grants to the Department of Labor — seen as a “proof of concept” for the bigger restructuring.
Federal law, however, clearly spells out that many of these programs must remain inside the Education Department. The administration could be relying on inter-agency agreements to sidestep the statute instead of seeking congressional approval for closure.
The shifts come amid a broader push by the Trump administration to shrink the department’s footprint and return authority to states. McMahon has repeatedly said that the department’s job should eventually be eliminated entirely.
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In a statement to Newsweek, Department of Education spokesperson Madi Biederman told the outlet, “Secretary McMahon has been very clear that her goal is to put herself out of a job by shutting down the Department of Education and returning education to the states.”
Opponents warn that the plan could cause major disruptions. In particular, they are concerned about how minorities, students with disabilities, and low-income families will receive support. Moving those programs could risk gaps in enforcement and support, especially for school districts relying on federal funding.
For now, the department says states and schools should not expect disruptions in their funding, though the source of their funds may shift to a different agency.
The restructuring plan is not a formal shutdown of the agency, since only Congress can abolish it, but it may be the most significant step yet toward fulfilling a campaign promise. However, it also raises big questions about how far an administration can go through inter-agency deals, and how those changes will affect students, teachers, and schools.
