The Trump administration says it will transfer much of the U.S. Department of Education’s programs to other agencies, a move experts say is part of President Donald Trump’s directive to dismantle the agency.
During a press call with reporters on Tuesday, a senior administration official said the administration had signed agreements with four other federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to begin managing programs currently under the Education Department.
Under the new agreements, the Labor Department will administer more federal K-12 initiatives, and the State Department will assume additional tasks related to international education and the Fulbright programs, according to the Education Department.
Trump signed an executive order in March aimed at closing the Education Department, which oversees the country’s $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio, provides funding to low-income students and enforces civil rights in classrooms across the country.
Only Congress can unilaterally eliminate the Education Department. But the Trump administration may be trying to use a workaround by contracting with other agencies to perform the department’s tasks.
