Trump Admin Asserts ‘Broad Authority’ In Major Changes To Education Dept

The Department of Education (ED) announced on Tuesday it is shifting duties to other departments as part of its continued effort to return education to the states and dismantle the department.

The Department has signed six interagency agreements (IAA), a “frequently used” tool to contract out services from one federal agency to another, a senior ED official told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The Department of Labor (DOL) will “co-manage” ED’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) and its programs and will “take on a growing role in managing” the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE).

The Department of the Interior (DOI) will help administer Native American education programs; the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will join ED in a Foreign Medical Accreditation Partnership and will help “improve on-campus child care support for parents enrolled in college.” The State Department will help administer international and foreign language studies programs.

“Education has broad authority under several statutes to contract with other federal agencies to procure services, and the department has had that authority since its inception,” a senior department official told the DCNF. “Other agencies have similar authorities to enter into contracts with other agencies, and its done so for 100 years.”

For some of the agreements, ED staff will shift to the receiving agencies. Department spokesmen did not clarify how many individuals are being relocated.

The OESE and OPE programs have roughly $28 billion and $3.1 billion in federal grants tied to them, department officials said.

“Families from Florida to California should be excited about the changes made to the Department of Education today,” Paul Runko, director of strategic initiatives at Defending Education, said in a statement. “These new and better ways of getting students what they need in school will not only give parents and teachers more control over their kids’ and students’ education but also streamline getting cash to classrooms. This shift breaks apart entrenched bureaucracy and clears away red tape so federal support can reach students and schools more quickly and efficiently. We applaud the U.S. Department of Education commitment to America’s children, parents and teachers.”

After President Donald Trump in March signed an executive order to dismantle ED, the department quickly went to work redistributing some of its duties to other agencies, including working to transfer student loan programs to the Small Business Administration (SBA) and special needs and nutrition programs to HHS. In September, ED also worked to shift federal workforce development programs to the DOL.

“The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in ED’s press release. “Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission.”

“As we partner with these agencies to improve federal programs, we will continue to gather best practices in each state through our 50-state tour, empower local leaders in K-12 education, restore excellence to higher education, and work with Congress to codify these reforms,” McMahon said. “Together, we will refocus education on students, families, and schools – ensuring federal taxpayer spending is supporting a world-class education system.”