Administration Transfers Six Education Department Offices to Other Agencies as Part of Dismantling Plan

Administration moves key Education Department functions to partner agencies

The Department of Education announced it will transfer six of its offices to four other federal agencies in a major reorganization officials say is intended to demonstrate how education functions could operate without a standalone Education Department.

Under an interagency agreement, the affected offices will be relocated to partner agencies with the department retaining policy oversight in a so-called "co-management" arrangement. Agency officials described the move as a step toward narrowing the department's size and scope in line with an earlier executive order directing its dismantling.

Which offices are moving

• Office of Elementary and Secondary Education & Office of Postsecondary Education — to the Department of Labor
• Office of Indian Education — to the Department of the Interior
• Administration for Children and Families (CCAMPIS-related functions) and National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation — to Health and Human Services (HHS)
• International and Foreign Language Education — to the State Department

Officials said the department is still considering where to place other significant offices, including the Office for Civil Rights, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, and Federal Student Aid—all divisions that affect millions of students and families nationwide.

How the "co-management" arrangement will work

Department leaders described the arrangement as preserving policy and oversight at Education while partner agencies take on operational responsibilities such as grant distribution and monitoring. A senior department official said personnel will be "co-managed," with the Education Department maintaining leadership on policy even as other agencies carry out many day-to-day processes.

Officials did not provide an effective date for staff transfers or specify how many employees will physically move to partner agencies. They acknowledged there will be a lag as the changes are implemented.

"We are really confident that this will end up being something that provides better services, more streamlined services, reduces bureaucracy," a senior department official said, adding that the changes will help narrow the agency's size and scope.

Reactions and concerns

Labor unions and education groups criticized the plan. Rachel Gittleman, president of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, which represents more than 2,700 Education Department employees, called the proposal unlawful and warned that shifting expertise away from a single education-focused agency risks "creating more confusion for schools and colleges, deepen[ing] public distrust, and ultimately harm[ing] students and families."

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the move "is neither streamlining nor reform—it’s an abdication and abandonment of America’s future," and argued the administration is walking away from responsibility for student success.

Context

The transfers follow an executive order issued in March directing steps to dismantle the Education Department and earlier workforce reductions that eliminated nearly half of the department's staff. Those layoffs were subject to legal challenges before the Supreme Court allowed the administration to proceed for now.

Congress created the Department of Education in 1979. The department administers federal funding to schools, manages student financial aid, and enforces civil rights protections in education, including accommodations for students with disabilities, while most public-school policy is set by states.

The department said it will continue evaluating the best way to execute the transfers and coordinate with partner agencies as the plan moves forward.