Christine Reilly shows students how to paint a whale during a 21st Century Community Learning Program at Juliette Gordon Low Elementary in Savannah, Georgia. Federal funding of such programs had been administered by the Education Department, but now will move to Labor.
Students work in the computer sciences classroom with teacher Sarah Hinton in the career tech program at Northside High School in Alabama.

WASHINGTON – While President Donald Trump's longtime vow to break up the federal Education Department may sound straightforward, his attempts to follow through have been hampered by big obstacles, including court challenges, congressional opposition and even some of his own signature legislation.

This week, he got much closer to fulfilling his promise.

On Tuesday, Nov. 18, his administration took one of its biggest steps yet to diminish the agency's influence. Officials announced six agreements with four other federal agencies – including the Departments of Labor, State, Interior and Health and Human Services – to outsource key education programs within other sectors of the government.

In a meeting with staffers Tuesday afternoon, Education Secretary Linda McMahon described the changes as a piecemeal way to move toward the Trump administration's ultimate goal of urging Congress to eliminate her department wholesale. There isn't enough support at this time on Capitol Hill to do that, but McMahon said she was committed to assessing how the reorganization works.

"I'm all about outcomes," the former wrestling industry executive told employees, according to a summary of her remarks. "It will take a lot of work."

A lot remains unclear about when the changes will happen and what they will mean for students and schools. As long as the same staffers and funding for key programs are fully retained – which, for now, appears to be the case – simply shifting them over to other agencies will likely have a limited impact on everyday folks. The Education Department is also still responsible for oversight of the programs.

Trump administration officials argue their efforts will eventually make the government's education apparatus work better. But some experts, including Margaret Spellings, the education secretary under former Republican President George W. Bush, worry the upheaval will result in disruptions to essential services that schools rely on.

"Moving programs from one department to another does not actually eliminate the federal bureaucracy and it may make the system harder for students, teachers, and families to navigate and get the support they need," she said in a statement.

What's moving out of ED? Title I, HBCU support, charter school grants

At some point in the near future, dozens of major programs will begin to shift outside of the Education Department. These include:

  • Title I, a program that provides nearly $20 billion in funding annually for low-income school districts;
  • federal funding for after-school and preschool programs;
  • teacher training grants;
  • grants for rural schools;
  • child literacy grants;
  • programs for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs);
  • grants for charter schools;
  • K-12 programs for Native American students;
  • grants for parenting college students;
  • the Fulbright-Hays program for international research (which has already been paused);
  • and foreign medical school accreditation.

The list goes on further.

Many of those functions, which cost billions of dollars collectively and are complicated to manage, have been key to the Education Department's identity for decades. Their impacts touch the lives of countless students.

School superintendents, college financial aid officers worry issues will arise

After the changes were announced on Nov. 18, education advocacy groups expressed anxiety over how the fallout could impact schools.

Chief among the critics were school superintendents. David R. Schuler, the executive director of The School Superintendents Association, said that while district leaders share the goal of improving key programs, the reorganization may not be the right approach.

"Many districts already operate with limited administrative capacity, and adapting to new oversight structures, reporting protocols, and guidance could require resources that are better directed toward students," he said in a statement. "We urge the administration to plan this reorganization carefully, engaging closely with state and local education leaders."

College financial aid offices gave similar warnings. Melanie Storey, the president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, urged the Education Department to "proceed with extreme caution."

"Just as we would not expect ED staff to have a comprehensive understanding of employment law, for example, we can’t assume that employees in other agencies would have – or could quickly acquire – the specialized knowledge required to administer these programs effectively," she said in a statement.

What's the timeline?

Exactly what the timeline looks like for shifting staff over to other agencies hasn't been publicly shared yet. But one precedent provides a rough idea.

In May, the Education Department signed its first interagency agreement to move its Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education to the Department of Labor. Staffers there didn't start to actually detail over to the new agency until October.

Education Department officials acknowledged this week that there will be a lag before the new transition begins in earnest.

Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump keeps flattening the Education Department. Will students notice?

Reporting by Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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