President Donald Trump seems determined to fulfill a campaign promise to dismantle the Department of Education, which has operated for decades but drawn scrutiny from right-wing critics in recent years. Now, Trump is reassigning a number of major programs and offices from the department to other federal agencies, despite concerns that the moves may be illegal and may disrupt services for students across the country.
Low-income grants, special education funding and more moved out of DoE
The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it had made agreements to outsource six Department of Education agencies to other departments within the federal government. According to the new arrangement, programs within the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Office of Postsecondary Education will now be administered by the Department of Labor. More than $31 billion in grant funding is affected by this move, including dozens of grant programs for low-income K-12 as well as grants for first-generation and low-income college students as well as students with disabilities. Other DoE offices being moved include the Indian Education Office, to be moved to the Interior Department; the Fulbright program and various grants for international education, which will now be administered by the State Department; and programs providing child care funding for college students and accreditation for foreign medical schools, which will now be handled by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Dismantling the Education department without approval from Congress
These moves, essentially gutting much of the Department of Education, build upon a campaign promise by Trump to eliminate the department. Although Trump cannot legally do so without congressional approval, he and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon have been dismantling much of the department since taking office, with a March executive order laying out the goal of wiping out as much of the department as the law will allow. Over the past several months, Trump and McMahon have nearly eliminated the Department of Education’s special education office, and laid off nearly half of the overall DoE staff. Even with the latest changes, the administration has not yet completely eliminated the Department of Education’s operations. The current changes leave in place the federal student aid program, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, and $15 billion toward students with disabilities. However, a source within the department indicated that additional changes may come in the future.
Pushback from experts and Democrats
Critics complain that these moves are violating the spirit of the law by effectively eliminating the functions of the Department of Education without an act of Congress. “They are attempting to hollow out the U.S. Department of Education, leaving behind a shell of the original organization,” expert Mark Kantrowitz said of the changes, CNBC reported. On a practical level, McMahon has presented the changes as an attempt to “peel back the layers of federal bureaucracy by partnering with agencies that are better suited to manage programs,” per her USA Today op-ed. Several Democratic lawmakers and officials have pledged to fight to protect the department. Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania emphasized the importance of the Department of Education’s programs, stating that “altering them without transparency or congressional oversight would pose real risks to the very students they were created to protect,” while urging his colleagues to help him protect these programs. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, posted on X that “Trump’s billionaire-led administration is slashing resources for students in rural communities, low-income families, and those who need special education” and pledged that “Minnesota will fight back.”
With Trump and McMahon moving quickly to gut the Department of Education, the fight to preserve the agency and its functions may be an uphill battle. Though constrained by law, the Trump administration has moved quickly to shrink the Department of Education immensely, and it doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon.