ED Makes Further Moves To Dismantle the Department of Education
November 18, 2025
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Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced six new interagency agreements (IAAs) with four agencies to 鈥渂reak up the federal education bureaucracy, ensure efficient delivery of funded programs, activities, and move closer to fulfilling the President鈥檚 promise to return education to the states." Of importance to AASA, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has signed an IAA to move the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education to the Department of Labor (DOL). ED staff indicated they still plan to use an IAA to move the Office of Special Education out of ED and into HHS, but there have been delays. ED staff also did not share a timeline as to when OESE would be moved over to DOL or when staff would be placed at DOL.
These are all the programs that are now being moved to DOL through the transfer of OESE:
- Title I, Part A: Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Educational Agencies
- Title I, Part B: Improving Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged鈥擲tate Assessment Grants
- Title I, Part C: Education of Migratory Children
- Title I, Part D: Prevention and Intervention Programs for Children and Youth Who are Neglected, Delinquent or At-Risk
- Title II, Part A: Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants
- Title III, Part A: English Language Acquisition State Grants
- Title IV, Part A, Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE)
- Title IV, Part B 21st Century Community Learning Centers
- Title V Small, Rural School Achievement and Rural and Low-Income School Programs
- Impact Aid
- Education for Homeless Children and Youths
Here is a on the transfer of OESE to DOL.
Here is a press statement 萝莉网issued in response to this transfer.
Legal Context: ED must maintain a specific number of offices and positions under the Department of Education Organization Act (DEOA), passed by Congress to create the agency in 1979. For example, under this law, the Department must have the following offices:
- Office for Civil Rights.
- Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
- Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education
- Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
- Institute of Education Sciences
- Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students
- Office of General Counsel
This summer, the Administration entered into two Inter-Agency Agreement (IAA) with other federal agencies to transfer existing programs out of ED. While in the context of discussions to shutter ED these two agreements are concerning, the administration鈥檚 position is that they have been signed and administered through existing legal frameworks and are in accordance with the DEOA. Whether that is legally correct is still before the courts, but it seems likely that the administration may be able to withstand litigation against these two specific agreements, as further discussed below.
The Inter-Agency Agreement (IAA) signed between the Department of Labor (DOL) and ED notes that its purpose is to shift administration of several workforce and training programs, including those under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) to DOL. The DOL will serve as a sort of subcontractor, carrying out the program but ultimately being responsible to the Secretary of Education. ED鈥檚 responsibilities will primarily be to provide technical assistance and oversee the management of programs by ED. However, this is not a complete abrogation of responsibility by ED under DEOA 鈥� as ED claims it is still administering the program, albeit through another agency. For this reason, and because an IAA of this type is permissible under law, a legal challenge seems unlikely to succeed.
Warning Signs: The transition of the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE) to DOL coincided with both the start of a new fiscal year and a government shutdown, which further complicated the process. States expressed significant frustration over delays in accessing funds, the absence of reliable contact points within ED to resolve issues, and a lack of communication or advance notice to prepare for the transfer. However, to date, 萝莉网has not received reports of any problems at the local level related to this transition.
We are also deeply concerned that, absent a substantial infusion of new federal funding, state education agencies simply will not have the capacity to execute the expanded responsibilities this reorganization places on them. SEAs are already stretched thin as they work to provide technical assistance, program monitoring, and support to districts. Under the proposed structure, those responsibilities expand across multiple new federal entities, increasing the risk that critical program activities鈥攁nd the funding that drives them鈥攃ould become fragmented or fall through the cracks.
As these other IAAS move forward, we will continue to monitor how States can adapt to working with new agencies and how their capacity to support federal programs and deliver funding to districts will be, if at all, compromised by these new transfers. We urge the Administration to reconsider today鈥檚 actions and to engage more deeply with state and local education leaders and stakeholders before moving forward with transitioning additional offices out of the Department.鈥�
