The Education Department is expected to announce that it will reassign several of its functions to other federal agencies, marking a major step toward dismantling the department, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
The Post spoke with three individuals familiar with the agency's plans, who said multiple offices within the Department of Education will be relocated.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March calling for the closure of the Department of Education, citing bureaucratic inefficiency and poor student performance during the agency's more than 40 years of existence.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon has said that while only Congress can formally eliminate the department, her mandate under Trump is to significantly limit its authority and return "education back to the states and empower all parents to choose an excellent education for their children."
Offices that may be moved out of the agency include the Office for Civil Rights, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, the Indian Education Program, the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Office of Postsecondary Education, according to sources who spoke with the Post.
The sources suggested that although these offices must legally remain part of the Department of Education, the Trump administration may use a workaround in which they are operated by other federal agencies under contract from the department.
McMahon recently launched the "Returning Education to the States Tour," highlighting the administration's goal of reducing Washington's influence over education policy.
"I think every school system needs to work within its own community to decide what curriculum works best there. What are the ways that their students can learn? And that's why it's imperative that education be returned to the states," she said.
In an opinion essay published Monday in USA Today, McMahon argued that the nearly two-month government shutdown underscored why the Education Department is no longer necessary.
"The shutdown proved an argument that conservatives have been making for 45 years: The U.S. Department of Education is mostly a pass-through for funds that are best managed by the states," she wrote.
In an email to Newsmax, The White House commented, "President Trump promised the American people he would dismantle the Department of Education. Today, Secretary McMahon is delivering on that promise with bold, decisive action to return education where it belongs – at the state and local level.
"The Trump Administration is fully committed to doing what's best for American students, which is why it's critical to shrink this bloated federal education bureaucracy while still ensuring efficient delivery of funds and essential programs. The Democrat shutdown made one thing unmistakably clear: students and teachers don't need Washington bureaucrats micromanaging their classrooms."
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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