Washington’s education bureaucracy just took a major hit as the Trump administration rolls out a plan to hand power back to where it belongs.
Fox News reported that on Tuesday, the administration unveiled a bold strategy to transfer authority from the Department of Education to other federal agencies, aligning with President Trump’s long-standing promise to dismantle the department and return control to states and local communities.
This move didn’t come out of nowhere; it follows an executive order signed by Trump in March, directing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to take steps toward closing the department while ensuring programs continue without disruption.
Six interagency agreements, or IAAs, were signed on Tuesday, redistributing programs and oversight to agencies like the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, the State Department, and the Department of the Interior.
The Department of Labor, for instance, will now play a bigger role in elementary, secondary, and higher education grants, while the Interior takes on more responsibility for Indian Education programs.
Health and Human Services signed two deals—one for foreign medical accreditation and another to support on-campus child care for student parents—while the State Department will manage international education and foreign language initiatives.
Administration officials argue these partnerships aim to streamline federal programs, empower local K-12 leaders, and restore excellence in higher education by leveraging the expertise of other agencies.
“The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon declared in a press release. Well, it’s about time someone cut through the endless red tape that’s been smothering our schools.
McMahon also noted that these efforts include gathering best practices from all 50 states, a refreshing pivot from the one-size-fits-all mandates we’ve endured from Washington for decades.
Interestingly, the use of IAAs isn’t new—administration officials pointed out that over 200 such agreements have been used in the past, even under previous leadership like the Biden administration for initiatives like the First Step Act.
A senior department official emphasized, “These partnerships really mark a major step forward in improving management of select programs and leveraging these partner agencies' administrative expertise.” If true, this could mean better service for schools and families, though skeptics might wonder if it’s just a flashy way to sidestep Congressional gridlock.
After all, the Department of Education, established in 1979, can only be officially shuttered by an act of Congress, and no significant movement has been made on Capitol Hill to make that happen.
Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are predictably up in arms, vowing to block this plan in both Congress and the courts with claims it will harm students, families, and teachers.
McMahon, however, fired back in a USA Today op-ed, pointing to the recent 43-day government shutdown as proof that the federal education machine isn’t as vital as critics claim, with schools and teachers carrying on just fine during the chaos. That’s a sharp jab at the progressive narrative that we can’t survive without Washington’s heavy hand.
