U.S. Secretary of Schooling Linda McMahon smiles throughout the signing occasion for an government order to close down the Division of Schooling subsequent to U.S. President Donald Trump, within the East Room on the White Home in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 20, 2025.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
The Trump administration says it would switch a lot of the U.S. Division of Schooling’s packages to different companies, a transfer consultants say is a part of President Donald Trump’s directive to dismantle the company.
Throughout a press name with reporters on Tuesday, a senior administration official mentioned the administration had signed agreements with 4 different federal companies, together with the U.S. Division of Labor and the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers, to start managing packages at the moment underneath the Schooling Division.
Underneath the brand new agreements, the Labor Division will administer extra federal Okay-12 packages, and the State Division will assume further duties associated to worldwide training, in line with the Schooling Division.
Trump signed an government order in March aimed toward closing the Education Department, which oversees the nation’s $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio, provides funding to low-income students and enforces civil rights in lecture rooms throughout the nation.
Solely Congress can unilaterally eradicate the Schooling Division. However the Trump administration could also be attempting to make use of a workaround by contracting with different companies to carry out the division’s duties.
“They’re trying to hole out the U.S. Division of Schooling, abandoning a shell of the unique group,” mentioned increased training professional Mark Kantrowitz.
Earlier this yr, the Trump administration laid off nearly half of the Schooling Division’s staffers.
“We’ll peel again the layers of federal paperwork by partnering with companies which might be higher suited to handle packages,” Schooling Division Secretary Linda McMahon wrote in a latest op-ed in USA Today.
The federal government shutdown “underlined simply how little the Division of Schooling will likely be missed,” McMahon mentioned.
Former President Jimmy Carter established the current-day Schooling Division in 1979. Since then, the division has confronted different existential threats, with former President Ronald Reagan calling for its end and Trump, throughout his first time period, attempting to merge it with the Labor Department.
This can be a breaking information story. Please examine again for updates.
