Context:

The Education Department unveiled two additional interagency agreements to further decentralize federal oversight by shifting responsibilities to the State Department and HHS, part of a broader effort to dismantle the federal education bureaucracy outlined in a Trump-era executive order. The arrangements aim to improve transparency of foreign gifts involving U.S. higher education and to expand HHS-led initiatives on family engagement, school safety, and community-based education programs. Officials frame the moves as making the system more efficient and better coordinated, while preserving student support and school security. Ending the department would require Congress, reflecting the procedural reality that the bureaucratic overhaul hinges on legislative action rather than executive change. Looking ahead, the department indicates ongoing collaborations to reallocate functions and reduce centralized control as part of a long-term decentralization strategy.

Dive Deeper:

• The two new partnerships—interagency agreements with the Department of State and with the Department of Health and Human Services—delegate specific duties to other federal agencies as part of ED's decentralization push.

• Under the State Department agreement, ED will work to improve the accuracy and transparency of reporting on foreign gifts and contracts from certain U.S. higher education institutions, a move framed around national security considerations.

• The HHS agreement places greater emphasis on family engagement and school support, expanding ED’s reach into programs such as School Emergency Response to Violence (Project SERV), School Safety National Activities, Ready to Learn Programming, Full-Service Community Schools, Promise Neighborhoods, and Statewide Family Engagement Centers.

• ED stressed that these collaborations are practical steps toward efficiency and stronger coordination, aligning with its aim to return education authority to the states and to bolster accountability and safety in schools.

• The piece notes that ED had previously entered into seven interagency agreements last year with agencies including Labor, Interior, HHS, and State, illustrating a broader pattern of interagency delegation.

• A spokesperson attributed the shift to a commitment to improve national security data access and to leverage emergency preparedness capabilities, framing the changes as enhancing support for students and safeguarding school environments.

• The article frames the initiative within the political context that a full abolition of the department would require Congressional action, underscoring the gap between executive-order ambitions and legislative feasibility.