Education Department Asks Officials to Sign NDAs as Plan to Break Up Agency Moves Forward

By Bo Erickson

The Trump administration is pressing ahead with a proposal to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and has asked senior staff to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to limit discussion of internal planning, according to multiple people familiar with the effort.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced this week that most federal education programs and many employees would be moved into six other agencies, including the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services. Officials say the reorganization represents a major step toward a longstanding conservative goal to shrink the federal role in education.

How the transfers will work, and when they will happen, remains unclear to the public, education advocates and Congress, which funds and oversees the agency. Two people familiar with the internal planning described the use of NDAs for senior officials and directors as unusual for an agency without a national security mission. It is not yet known how broadly NDAs have been used or whether this approach has precedents within the department.

A senior Education Department official defended the practice, saying NDAs are consistent with some business and government practices and help facilitate deliberative discussions and coordination between agencies and career staff. One person familiar with the agreements said the stated aim was to prevent the release of sensitive internal planning outside the department during the transition.

“Our final mission as a department is to fully empower states to carry the torch of our educational renaissance,” McMahon said at a White House briefing. “We are not ending federal support for education. We are ending federal micromanagement.”

McMahon has told senators during her confirmation hearings that formally unwinding the Department of Education would require congressional action; on Thursday she said she has consulted with dozens of lawmakers and urged Congress to codify the changes after they are implemented.

But some lawmakers say they have been left out of planning. Senator Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, criticized the administration for a lack of transparency and accused it of bypassing Congress. “There’s a difference between reform and sabotage, and right now we are seeing sabotage,” Murray said.

Officials say some Education Department employees are already embedded within the Labor Department, and two people familiar with the plans said additional staff are expected to relocate full time to Labor and other agencies around January. A senior Education Department official said there is no fixed timeline for further staff moves.

Separately, officials from the Education and Health departments met this week to coordinate timelines and logistics for Health to assume responsibility for certain special education support programs.

This reporting is based on interviews with multiple current and former officials familiar with the internal planning.