The Trump administration moved forward with new plans as part of its push to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday.
The education department announced the creation of six new interagency agreements that will collaborate with the U.S. departments of labor, interior, health and human services and state. The development would create a federal workforce system that would “return education to the states,” according to a Tuesday education department news release.
The education department will begin restructuring by breaking down some of its main offices and reallocating responsibilities to other federal departments. Some of its biggest grants will be redistributed to other federal agencies, the Associated Press reported.
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President Donald Trump issued an order to dismantle the department in March. He stated multiple times that it has been overtaken by liberal ideology, the Associated Press reported. Trump issued a wave of mass layoffs of nearly half the department’s staff in March as a part of his order.
It will likely take an act of Congress to completely dismantle the department, but department leaders are able to restructure it without congressional approval.
As part of the reconstruction announced Tuesday, the labor department will now administer federal oversight for K-12 programs and partner with post secondary education and workforce development programs. Building the program will help eliminate the labor shortage of more than 700,000 skilled jobs, according to Tuesday’s news release.
The health and human services department will also now provide a childcare access partnership that allows childcare-based grants to help parents enrolled in college, according to the release.
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“Our partnership with the Department of Education will ensure families have access to childcare options that meet their needs and can accelerate their educational and economic success,” Alex Adams, assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families wrote in the news release.
Regardless of the redistribution of current funds, the department will still be funded by Congress, officials confirmed to the Associated Press on Tuesday.
Nearly 200 Democrats filed an amicus brief against the Trump administration’s efforts to close the education department in April. They called the actions illegal, according to an April news release announcing the legal move.
Trump has made his plans to restructure education clear since his campaign. He signed another order in late January to defund public schools he said taught about “anti-American ideologies.” Trump included teachings about gendered pronouns and race in that definition.”
