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The Trump administration said Tuesday that the Department of Education has signed interagency agreements transferring responsibility for several of its offices and programs to other federal agencies as part of the president’s broader plan to dismantle the department.
“The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.
“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,” she added.
According to department officials, six new interagency agreements have been finalized with the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, State, and the Interior. The agreements will allow those agencies to co-manage or assume a larger role in running specific programs.
“We at the Department of Ed have engaged with other partner agencies over 200 times through IAAs to procure various services of other partner agencies over the years,” a senior department official told reporters. “Even the Biden administration did it to help implement the First Step Act, entering into an IAA with the Department of Justice. And so this is a tool that’s frequently used.”
One agreement places the Department of Labor in charge of a new elementary and secondary education partnership aimed at empowering parents and states and promoting innovation, according to a department release. Labor also will assume a growing role in managing higher education grants. The Department of the Interior will take on increased responsibility for the Indian Education program.
Two agreements with the Department of Health and Human Services involve foreign medical accreditation programs and the launch of a new initiative called Child Care Access Means Parents in School, designed to expand child care options on college campuses. A separate program with the State Department will oversee international education and foreign language studies.
Trump signed an executive order in March directing McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.” The department was created by Congress in 1979, and any formal closure would require congressional approval.