Although the Trump Administration had already moved the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education to the Department of Labor earlier this fall, today’s moves go much further. According to internal briefings and multiple federal sources, we’re expecting the following:
- The Department of Labor will assume responsibility for Title I, Title II, charter school grants, civics/history programs, teacher training, and the entirety of ED’s elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education offices
- The Department of the Interior will take over the Office of Indian Education
- The State Department will run Fulbright-Hays and all international and foreign-language initiatives
- The Department of Health and Human Services will operate the campus child-care access program and foreign medical school accreditation
Some reports, including those circulated inside Washington today, indicate the administration is also preparing to transfer the Offices of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), Civil Rights (OCR), and possibly English Language Acquisition (OELA). ED has not publicly confirmed those moves, but the pattern suggests that no program office is off the table.
What Does it Mean?
These changes will shift roughly $31 billion in federal education funding to agencies that have never administered K-12 programs. Districts should expect operational uncertainty as the Department of Labor assumes responsibility for sending Title I and Title II funds to states, setting expectations for compliance, and managing reporting systems. Until new guidance is issued, LEAs should continue following existing CDE and ED directions.
What remains at ED after this reorganization is a shell of the former department. Planning and oversight offices, Budget Service, Finance and Operations, the General Counsel, Inspector General functions, Communications, and Legislative Affairs will stay. Federal Student Aid remains intact. The Institute of Education Sciences technically survives but is reportedly operating with only a few staff.
There is also a significant workforce issue brewing. ED leadership had previously discussed laying off staff in the transferred offices and requiring employees to reapply for roles at the receiving agencies. However, the current federal continuing resolution prohibits reductions in force through January 30. It is unclear whether staff are being temporarily reassigned or whether layoffs will occur after that date. ED has scheduled an all-hands meeting today, suggesting more internal direction is forthcoming.
Legal challenges are expected, but the Administration appears confident that interagency agreements fall within its authority. Because the program offices technically still “exist” inside ED on paper, political appointees could remain in title even while program administration occurs elsewhere, a structural workaround that is likely intended to complicate legal claims.
Looking Ahead
The deeper concern among advocates, and one worth flagging, is where this leads. With ED’s research, evaluation, and oversight capacity hollowed out, the Administration will almost certainly argue in future budget cycles that federal education funding shows “no evidence of effectiveness” and should be cut. The Trump Administration already proposed a giant reduction for 2026 and a much steeper cut for FY 2027 is plausible. The Administration has repeatedly signaled its goal of “returning education to the states,” and we see this reorganization is a major step toward that argument.
For now, nothing changes for LEAs in terms of requirements or timelines. But the federal agencies now responsible for K-12 programs, especially the Department of Labor, will need time to build systems that ED has maintained for decades. Expect delays, mixed guidance, and shifting points of contact while the transition unfolds.
We’ll continue to keep you posted as we learn more details.
Take care,
-Barrett
Barrett Snider
Partner | Capitol Advisors Group
Capitol Advisors Group, LLC | 925 L Street Suite 1200 | Sacramento, CA 95814 US