Trump Admin Moves Six Education Dept Programs As Breakup Begins

The Trump Administration continues its efforts to hollow out the U.S. Department of Education by sending six programs to other federal agencies. The U.S. Department of Education announced the changes in a press conference on Tuesday, November 18, 2025.

Although federal law assigns responsibility for these programs to the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon is making an end-run around the law by entering into contracts with the other federal agencies to operate the programs under U.S. Department of Education oversight.

These interagency agreements (IAAs) send the six program to the following four agencies:

U.S. Department of Labor (DOL): Elementary and Secondary Education Partnership and Postsecondary Education Partnership. DOL will be responsible for grants relating to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority-Serving Institutes (MSIs), as well as grants focused on improving student success for college students
U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI): Indian Education Partnership
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): Foreign Medical Accreditation Partnership and Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS)
U.S. Department of State (DOS): International Education and Foreign Language Studies Partnership, including programs administered under the Fulbright-Hays grant

U.S. Department of Education staff who manage these programs will be transferred to the four federal agencies.

The agreements were signed on September 30, 2025, but not announced until now. It will take several months to transfer the programs to the other federal agencies.