The funny thing about dismantling a federal agency is that it’s rarely the dramatic Hollywood demolition that people imagine. There are no detonators. No countdown clocks. No dramatic shots of the Education Department building collapsing into patriotic rubble while a bald eagle screeches approvingly. No, real-world demolition is much more mundane. It’s slow. Bureaucratic. Paperwork-heavy. And if the Trump administration has proven anything, it’s that it will dismantle the Education Department the same way you eat a stale bagel: slowly, painfully, and with far more force than anyone asked for.
This week, Trump got closer than ever to fulfilling his long-promised dream of shrinking – flattening, steamrolling, deconstructing, or hey, maybe just misplacing – the Department of Education. And he didn’t do it with legislation, or a decree, or divine intervention from the ghost of Betsy DeVos. No. He did it through six interagency agreements that quietly unlocked a bureaucratic side quest: outsourcing major education programs to other federal agencies.
The Departments of Labor, State, Interior, and Health and Human Services now get slices of the Education Department like it’s a Thanksgiving turkey that no one really wanted to carve. And education? Well… education is getting passed around like a distant cousin who showed up uninvited and won’t stop talking about cryptocurrency.
So, the big question: Will students notice?
Oh, they’ll notice. Probably by accident. Maybe halfway through trying to fill out a federal form that suddenly lives on a website run by the Department of the Interior, for reasons no one can explain.
But before we get to the inevitable chaos, let’s unpack exactly what Trump just did, how we got here, and why millions of students, teachers, parents, and overworked financial aid staff are staring at these changes like: “Wait… we’re doing what now?”
I. First, A Reminder: Trump Has Wanted To Torch the Education Department Since the Dawn of Time
The one consistent thing about Trump’s education agenda — besides its uncanny ability to startle literally everyone in education — is his vow to break up the Department of Education altogether.
But wanting to eliminate a federal agency is kind of like wanting to “just try CrossFit once.” It sounds straightforward. But in reality? It’s a logistical nightmare. Court challenges. Congress saying “absolutely not.” Internal resistance. Oddly enough, even some of Trump’s own legislation made it harder.
Every time he tried to get rid of the agency, the universe was like: “Lol no.”
But now? He’s figuring out a workaround.
You can't kill the beast if Congress won’t let you—so instead, you can feed parts of it to other beasts.
Thus: outsourcing.
It's bureaucratic feng shui. You keep the building but empty out the rooms.
II. Enter Linda McMahon: Wrestling Executive, Now Education Secretary, Apparently Doing Interagency Tag-Team Matches
In a staff meeting, Education Secretary Linda McMahon – yes, the same McMahon from World Wrestling Entertainment – explained the arrangement as a “piecemeal” step toward the administration’s dream scenario of convincing Congress to eliminate the entire Education Department one day.
Because nothing says “smooth and stable federal governance” like reorganizing the country’s education infrastructure with the same logic one might use to reorganize a sock drawer.
McMahon reportedly told staff:
“I’m all about outcomes.”
Which is a fascinating thing to say while you’re actively turning the agency into a federally funded Craigslist.
But she’s committed to seeing how this reorganization “works.”
Spoiler: it won’t. At least not the way they think. But it will work out great for chaos, confusion, and maybe some future Netflix docuseries about bureaucratic meltdown.
III. What’s Moving Out of the Education Department? (Short Answer: Basically Everything With a Pulse)
This isn’t a light trim. This is a buzz cut.
Here’s a sampling of what’s getting shipped out:
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Title I (aka the $20 billion lifeline for low-income school districts — sure, let’s scatter that around!)
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After-school and preschool funding
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Teacher training grants
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Rural school grants
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Literacy programs
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HBCU, TCU, and HSI programs
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Charter school grants
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K-12 programs for Native American students
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Grants for parenting college students
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The Fulbright-Hays international research program (which is already paused!)
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Foreign medical school accreditation
If you’re thinking, “Wow, that sounds like the core of the Education Department’s job,” congratulations. You have basic pattern recognition skills.
At this point, the only things not being outsourced are probably:
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the office espresso machine,
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some confused interns, and
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whatever program no one remembered existed.
This isn't restructuring. This is taking your entire house, moving every room to a different neighborhood, and insisting your home will function better now that the kitchen lives at the Department of Labor and the baby’s bedroom is managed by the Department of the Interior.
IV. The Administration’s Argument: “This Will Make Government Work Better”
Sure, Jan.
Trump officials say that moving major education functions to other agencies will make everything more efficient.
Because when you think "public education," of course you think:
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The Department of Labor, which historically specializes in… not schools.
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The Department of the Interior, famous for… national parks.
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The State Department, best known for… passports.
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HHS, known for… everything except federal student grants.
This is like handing your wedding planning to the DMV.
Or asking NASA to manage your dental insurance.
Or letting the Department of Agriculture run the TikTok account for your local community college.
But sure. Efficiency.
V. Experts, Educators, and Anyone With a Pulse Are… What’s the Word? Ah Yes: Horrified
Former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings — and she served under a Republican president — basically said:
Moving everything doesn’t remove bureaucracy. It just spreads chaos around so everyone can enjoy it.
She warns that:
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Schools will have a harder time finding what they need
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Families will get lost in a maze of new reporting systems
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Teachers will have new hoops to jump through
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Programs may get weakened simply because new overseers don’t understand them
It’s almost like when you move a plant to a different environment without acclimating it first: it doesn’t thrive, it wilts.
But instead of a single plant, it’s millions of students.
And instead of sunlight changes, it’s federal agency relocation.
Just, you know, same energy.
VI. Superintendents and Financial Aid Officers Are Already Lining Up To Yell Into a Pillow
If you've ever worked in a school district, you know one thing is universally true:
Administrators hate avoidable paperwork.
They hate it almost as much as students hate the FAFSA.
So when they hear that they now have to report to entirely new federal agencies, their reaction is basically:
"Cool cool cool… but with what time?"
David Schuler, head of The School Superintendents Association, diplomatically said districts already operate at maximum administrative capacity. Translation:
“We are drowning in forms. Please stop throwing bricks.”
Meanwhile, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators said this plan assumes other agencies magically understand education law.
They do not.
HHS does many wonderful things. But it does not, for example, manage Pell Grants. The Department of Labor does not track K-12 achievement metrics. And the Department of the Interior does not historically issue student loan repayment guidance.
Expecting them to learn overnight is optimistic.
Expecting them to do it well is delusional.
**VII. The Timeline:
“We’re Doing This, But Also Not Yet, But Also Soon, But Also Shrug Emoji”**
No one knows when the staff will actually move — because, as usual, the details are still a mystery.
We do have a precedent: the first big office that got reassigned (Career, Technical and Adult Education) didn’t even start moving until months after the agreement was signed.
So expect:
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Delays
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Confusion
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Miscommunication
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New org charts that look like abstract art
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A bunch of “effective immediately” memos with zero follow-up instructions
Think of it like a group project where no one knows who’s actually responsible for anything.
Except this time millions of students rely on the outcome.
VIII. Will Students Notice?
Let’s Break This Down.
1. K-12 Students
Probably not immediately.
Unless:
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their after-school program funding gets disrupted
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literacy grant cycles shift
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Title I disbursements get delayed
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their district can’t figure out where to send certain forms for a month or twelve
So yes, they’ll feel it. They just won’t know why.
2. College Students
They’ll notice when:
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financial aid processing slows down
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HBCU & TCU support gets tangled in new bureaucratic channels
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foreign medical program accreditation gets caught in a new approval loop
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parenting student grants experience “temporary pauses” (aka indefinite limbo)
Basically: expect delays. Lots of them.
3. Nursing Students
You bet they’ll notice.
Anything involving:
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program accreditation
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clinical placement
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federal funding
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specialized training grants
…is now being shuffled around like a frantic game of federal musical chairs.
4. Teachers & Administration
They will notice IMMEDIATELY.
No group feels bureaucratic disruption faster than teachers trying to meet compliance deadlines that change overnight.
They’ll need:
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new reporting systems
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new technical contacts
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new training
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new timelines
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new explanations for why nothing is working
In summary:
Yes. Everyone will notice. But probably not until the damage is already done.
IX. But Why Do This At All? What’s the Real Goal?
It's simple:
If you can’t kill an agency outright, you can hollow it out until it collapses under its own weight.
If you spread its core functions across other departments:
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It becomes harder to defend
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It loses identity
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It loses institutional expertise
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It gets fragmented
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It becomes easier to justify eventual elimination
It’s federal Jenga.
Just keep pulling blocks until someone says “oh well, guess we don’t need this tower anymore.”
X. The Hidden Problem: Students Don’t See the Federal Government… Until It Breaks
Most families never think about federal education policy.
They think about:
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grades
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school lunches
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tuition
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textbooks
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SAT scores
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graduation
The federal plumbing behind all that remains invisible… until it leaks.
That’s what’s about to happen.
Slow leaks. Annoying leaks. Leaks that take years to notice, until suddenly a school district says:
“Wait, where did our literacy grant go?”
A college says:
“Why is our federal documentation spread across four agencies now?”
An HBCU says:
“Why is our funding delayed again?”
A parent says:
“Why are we on hold with the Department of Labor to ask about a preschool grant?”
A superintendent says:
“Why is my inbox now 95% interagency memos?”
Students won’t notice at first.
But they’ll feel it by:
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reduced services
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muddled funding cycles
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slower approvals
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stale resources
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missing outreach
It’s death by administrative papercut.
XI. The Wildest Part: ED Is Still Supposed To Oversee These Programs
Yes. Read that again.
Programs are being moved out of the department.
But ED is still supposed to oversee them.
This is like:
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giving your dog to a neighbor
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telling the dog you’re still its owner
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and then standing in your yard shouting instructions across the street
It’s oversight without execution.
Authority without proximity.
Responsibility without power.
It’s… perfect for chaos.
XII. What Happens Next? The Likely Aftermath
Let’s predict the future with the precision of a Magic 8 Ball that’s been dropped a few times:
Phase 1: Initial Confusion
Everyone panics.
No one knows which agency controls which program.
Phone lines melt.
Phase 2: Bureaucratic Blame Ping-Pong
Agencies bounce responsibility around like:
“No, YOU handle that grant.”
“No YOU do it.”
“We don’t do education here, ask Labor.”
“We don’t do that here either.”
Phase 3: Congressional Hearings
Angry speeches. Chart-wielding senators.
No solutions.
Phase 4: Media Story About a Student Who Fell Through the Cracks
This will involve either:
a preschool program,
a rural literacy grant,
or a parenting student.
Phase 5: “Interim Guidance” Memos
These are like regular guidance except they expire every 15 minutes.
Phase 6: Some Functions Quietly Break
Not loudly.
Silently.
The most dangerous way.
Phase 7: “This Is Fine” Energy
Administrators accept the mess.
Teachers adapt.
Students just try to graduate.
Phase 8: A New Administration Inherits the Chaos
And then they announce:
“We need a multi-year strategic plan to fix this,”
which everyone interprets as:
“Buckle up. It’ll be a while.”
XIII. Conclusion: Will Students Notice? Eventually. And They Deserve Better Than Federal Musical Chairs.
The most ironic part of this whole saga is that the Trump administration frames the change as “improving outcomes.”
But improvements require:
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thoughtful planning
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clear expertise
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stable oversight
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predictable funding
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continuity of service
This reorganization offers none of that.
Instead, it offers:
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fragmentation
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confusion
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outsourcing
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weakened identity
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longer wait times
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inconsistent oversight
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fragile continuity
Students might not notice the shift tomorrow.
But they’ll notice:
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when grant cycles slip
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when school resources thin
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when program support lags
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when financial aid bottlenecks
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when districts spend months adjusting to new reporting rules
Federal education policy works best when it’s boring.
This?
This is not boring.
This is a political science case study waiting to happen.
And somewhere, Betsy DeVos is probably nodding approvingly, whispering:
“My work lives on.”