Education reorganization faces bipartisan pushback, as lawmakers push to disclose price tag

The Education Department’s plans to transfer its core functions to other agencies, part of the Trump administration’s effort to shutter the department, are facing bipartisan opposition. 

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee advanced legislation Thursday that would reverse more than a quarter of the Education Department’s interagency agreements that undergirded those moves. 

The bill would unwind the Education Department’s plans to move its Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to the Health and Human Services Department, its Office of Postsecondary Education and Office of Elementary and Secondary Education to the Labor Department and its Office of Indian Education to the Interior Department.  

The Education Department has signed 14 interagency agreements to move its employees and programs to other agencies on a temporary basis. 

The Trump administration can’t close down the Education Department without approval from Congress. Education Secretary Linda McMahon told employees last fall that implementing these interagency agreements would give the department a proof-of-concept to show to lawmakers and convince them that the department is no longer needed.

Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., said it “would be a mistake” to transfer the Education Department’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the Department of Health and Human Services – but voted against the bill, adding that he’s not opposed to all of the department’s reorganization plans. 

“I don't oppose all these IAAs. I do think the administration should be allowed to pilot how to address inefficiencies and the potential for efficiencies by operationalizing these IAAs,” he said. 

Cassidy added that he would support Education moving OSERS to the Labor Department, rather than folding it into the “tremendous bureaucracy of HHS, in which we read every day about some crisis or another.” 

“Is the Department of Ed staff that will be transferred there empowered and prioritized? I have my doubts,” he said. 

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the Education Department’s plan to transfer OSERS to HHS “fundamentally misunderstands the history and intent of the special education program.”

“These transfers are misaligned with their program purposes,” she said. 

Collins said the bill “keeps the administration of important landmark education programs at the Department of Education, where Congress specifically put them and where they belong.” 

Chad Rummel, the chief executive officer of the Council for Exceptional Children, a special education organization, told Government Executive that the committee sent a "bipartisan, clear message that we are not okay with putting support for students with disabilities at risk.” 

“This might throw some sand in the gears of this movement, but this administration is hellbent on bringing down the department,” Rummel said. 

McMahon asked congressional leaders to support the department’s reorganization efforts in a letter Thursday.

“Misconceptions have circulated” about the interagency agreements, she wrote, but “have demonstrated measurable results by driving stronger grant competitions, streamlining government operations, and producing better outcomes for Americans.” 

Savannah Newhouse, the department’s press secretary, said in a statement that it was “downright malpractice” for lawmakers to reject the department’s reorganization efforts before giving them a chance to demonstrate results.

“Secretary McMahon promised Congress a proof of concept that is currently underway and delivering results across our partner agencies, and it is entirely premature to sabotage this effort before it has the chance to eliminate bureaucratic barriers and fully deliver the results that our students, families, and educators deserve,” Newhouse said. 

The committee advanced the bill with an amendment from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., that would require the Education Department to publicly disclose the costs associated with each of these interagency agreements.

“Secretary McMahon is duplicating the work the department was already working by asking other agencies to do it instead, and then claiming that somehow this makes government more efficient. Fine, prove it. Show us the receipts,” Murray said. 

In internal documents, Education officials have raised concerns about offloading work to other agencies and predicted significant challenges along the way. Murray said that in one of the interagency agreements, Education is paying the Labor Department more than a million dollars “to do its job.” 

Congress fully funded the Education Department in its spending package for fiscal 2026, rejecting both the Trump administration’s plans for deep budget cuts and transferring programs to other agencies. 

Lawmakers wrote in the spending deal that agencies taking on Education Department programs do not have the “experience, expertise or capacity” to carry out the work or properly communicate with stakeholders. The Education Department, however, continues to reassign its work to other agencies.  

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said the Education Department is transferring its Office of Indian Education to the Interior Department without consultation from impacted tribes. 

Murkowski voted for the bill, but said she doesn’t oppose all of the Education Department plans to reassign programs. 

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said the Education Department under the Trump administration has “changed for the better.” 

“When we stop the government from streamlining operations, it doesn't help students. It simply preserves bureaucracy,” he added. 

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), who has a special needs son, said special education programs at the Education Department have “expanded opportunities not just for my son, but for all sorts of young people who were written off when they should not have been.” 

“I appreciate that there are reforms necessary at the Department of Education. There are reforms necessary in the special education system, to be sure, but I don't want us to lose sight of the purpose of this particular unit within the Department of Education and the difference it has made to millions of lives,” Hassan said.