U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said she wants to “eliminate layers of federal bureaucracy.”
Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Trump administration on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping plan to bypass Congress and outsource much of the U.S. Department of Education, telling lawmakers and staff it would shift work devoted to, among other things, K-12 education, postsecondary education and Indian education to other federal agencies.
These three offices were originally placed within the department by Congress when the agency was established in 1979, and these moves were made without Congressional consent.
According to two people who were briefed on the plan by the Trump administration and who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, the administration has entered into six new agreements between the Education Department and other agencies, offloading day-to-day operations of programs required by Congress while retaining a small contingent of staff within the department.
For example, under these new agreements, much of the work of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which includes managing Title I, a key federal funding stream that helps schools support low-income students, would be transferred to the U.S. Department of Labor, as would much of the work of the Office of Postsecondary Education.
The U.S. Department of the Interior would take over much of the work of the department’s Office of Indian Education.
The U.S. Department of State would be responsible for international education and foreign language studies programs.
Responsibility for the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program, which provides child care on college campuses to low-income student parents, would be transferred to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
In an opinion piece published Sunday by USA Today, Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote of this type of agreement: “We will eliminate layers of federal bureaucracy by partnering with agencies better suited to run programs and empowering state and local leaders to oversee the rest.” These partnerships are commonplace across the federal government to improve service delivery and increase efficiency. »
In July, the Department of Education announced such an agreement with the Department of Labor, in which Labor assumed responsibility for adult education and family literacy programs previously administered by the Department of Education, although a statement from the Department of Education insisted that “the programs will be run in parallel.” [Education Department] staff, with ongoing leadership and supervision by [the Education Department]”.
Tuesday’s agreements do not include a handful of the department’s core responsibilities, including special education, respect for student civil rights and student loans.
Opponents of the administration’s move say that because Congress created these offices and explicitly located them within the Department of Education, the White House cannot legally move their work without congressional approval.
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., ranking member of the Senate Education Committee, said in a statement: “This is a downright illegal effort to continue to dismantle the Department of Education, and it is students and families who will suffer the consequences, as key programs that help students learn to read or that strengthen connections between schools and families are entrusted to agencies with little or no relevant expertise and are seriously undermined.” weakened, if not completely broken, in the process. »
In briefing lawmakers and staff, the department insisted that statutory responsibilities for these programs would remain with the department, even if the work was done elsewhere.
It is unclear whether maintaining minimal department staff, in partnership with other agencies, will be enough to convince courts that the administration is following federal law.
According to NPR’s two sources, the briefing was led by Lindsey Burke, now deputy chief of staff for policy and programs at the department, who also co-wrote the education section of the Conservative government’s Blueprint 2025, outlining how to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.
“The federal Department of Education should be eliminated. When power is exercised, it should empower students and families, not the government,” Burke wrote.
There will likely be legal challenges to Tuesday’s actions.
