The U.S. Department of Education now has 10 interagency agreements with five other federal agencies, continuing the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the Education Department. These moves, it says, are intended to reduce federal red tape and bring more fiscal decision-making to the states.
Under the direction of U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, the Education Department has said it is in need of a shake-up, pointing to disappointing student achievement levels despite decades of federal spending on agency activities.
Programming for school safety, academic supports, family engagement, Title I schools, and career and technical education are moving out of the Education Department under the interagency agreements.
The most recent partnership announced by the department has the U.S. Department of Treasury taking over management of the $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio and eventually the administration of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
"ED was never intended to operate what would be the fifth-largest commercial bank in the United States, distributing over $100 billion each year in Federal student loans and grants," said a March 19 Education Department statement announcing the interagency agreement with the Treasury Department.
Kevin Roberts, president of the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, said in a March 19 statement, "In a year since President Trump put the U.S. Department of Education on notice with an executive order to close the agency and return education authority to the states, his administration has made good on his plan to finally end this bloated and unnecessary federal agency."
Under the agreements, the Education Department would retain statutory responsibility for the programs being outsourced.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit opposing the department's interagency agreements is working its way through the courts. That legal challenge is included in litigation against other steps the Education Department has taken to downsize, including by firing half its staff last year.
"Between gutting staff and moving Education Department functions to other federal agencies, Secretary McMahon is creating confusion for schools and colleges, eroding public trust, and harming students and families," said Rachel Gittleman, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 252 representing Education Department employees, in a March 11 statement.
"This is an insult to the tens of millions of students who rely on the Department to safeguard access to quality education and to the taxpayers who depend on federal oversight to prevent waste,” Gittleman said.
Several education advocacy groups and disability rights organizations are urging the Education Department to maintain special education oversight and grant management, as well as the agency’s Office for Civil Rights. The Education Department has not announced management changes to those activities.
