In a surprise announcement, which came last week, the DOE announced it is moving several of its offices and responsibilities to other federal agencies. The press release announced six “interagency agreements” with four federal agencies, Labor, Interior, Health and Human Services, and State.
The reason for doing so, which was stated bluntly, is to “break up the federal education bureaucracy” and return education to the state level.
President Trump’s stated plan to dismantle and shutter the Department of Education has repeatedly run into legal trouble, since ending the federal agency requires congressional approval which is unlikely.
The administration’s Plan B, which is to empty the building by laying off employees, was challenged in the courts and stalled. That plan moved forward again, in July, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Trump’s favor to cut the agency by another 1,400 workers.
Matt Lamb is associate editor of The College Fix, the watchdog website that reports on left-wing activism on college and university campuses. He calls the newest announcement a “positive move” by the DOE.
“This will save money and this will streamline the process,” he predicts. “And it will put a lot of these functions in the hands of other agencies that are already doing similar and related work."
Other than student loans and civil rights cases, Lamb says, the DOE is not involved with teaching or curriculum.
“There's really no reason Washington, D.C. has to be involved in the teaching of math in Texas or New York,” he argues. “There's plenty of people in New York and Texas and Oklahoma that can oversee math and reading and writing."
