Education Committee Vows to Shift Remaining Ed Dept. Tasks, Programs to HHS, DOJ

A key House committee has rolled out plans to delegate some of the Department of Education’s remaining tasks to other federal agencies, and the measure could reach the chamber floor for a vote as soon as Wednesday.

The 10 bills included in the legislative package, released last week by House Education and the Workforce Committee Republicans, are being spearheaded by Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich.

“The legislative package reflects a simple principle: education policy should be focused on helping students succeed—not preserving a federal bureaucracy for its own sake,” Walberg said in a statement.

“Rather than allowing unnecessary layers of Washington bureaucracy to stand between families and the services they rely on, the bills would transfer key statutory authorities to agencies better equipped to carry them out while maintaining continuity for students and stakeholders,” he added.

Bills in Question

The 10-bill “Less Bureaucracy, Better Education” package, announced by Walberg, represents Congress’ first major legislative effort to codify the Trump administration’s broader plan to shrink the federal Education Department and redistribute many of its functions across the federal government.

“Students and educators deserve a federal government that works efficiently and delivers results,” Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., told the Daily Signal. “My two bills would transfer certain K-12 and higher education programs to the Department of Labor, which already oversees workforce development and employment programs and has begun taking on a larger role in administering federal education programs. This would reduce unnecessary bureaucracy, improve accountability, and help ensure taxpayer dollars are focused on serving students and families. I look forward to the bills being considered in a committee markup.”

Several of the proposals formalize arrangements already in place between federal agencies. But the legislation goes beyond interagency cooperation by permanently transferring statutory authority and program administration from the Education Department to agencies, including the departments of Labor, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Interior, and State.

Among the most significant measures are HR 9607, the Less Bureaucracy, Better Workforce Development Act, and HR 9610, the Less Bureaucracy, Better K-12 Education Act. Those bills would move major education programs to the Department of Labor.

Under HR 9607, Labor would assume responsibility for the Education Department’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, including administration of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, adult education and literacy initiatives, and other workforce-related programs. The legislation transfers “all the functions” previously exercised by the education secretary in those areas.

Supporters argue the move would better align education and training programs with workforce needs because the Labor Department already oversees employment and workforce development initiatives.

Critics, however, are likely to question whether programs such as adult literacy and family education should be administered primarily through a workforce lens.

The K-12 legislation would make an even broader transfer. HR 9610 shifts numerous elementary and secondary education programs from the Education Department to the Labor Department, including Title I programs serving disadvantaged students, migrant education programs, teacher-quality grants, and federal assessment programs.

The package also includes HR 9611, the Less Bureaucracy, Better Higher Education Act, which would move several higher-education programs from the Education Department to the Labor Department. According to House Republicans, the legislation would transfer administration of postsecondary programs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities initiatives, TRIO programs intended to support low-income and first-generation college students, and services for military veterans pursuing higher education.

Other bills in the package would redistribute education-related responsibilities to agencies with subject-matter expertise.

HR 9605, the Less Bureaucracy, Better Foreign Medical Accreditation Act, would transfer oversight of foreign medical school accreditation standards from the Education Department to the Department of Health and Human Services. The legislation would place responsibility for the National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation under HHS.

HR 9604, the Less Bureaucracy, Better Tribal Education Act, would move programs serving students on tribal lands to the Department of the Interior, including grants benefiting Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian populations.

Meanwhile, HR 9606 would transfer oversight of childcare programs serving the children of college students from the Education Department to HHS. Supporters say the move would consolidate responsibility for childcare services within the agency already tasked with administering most federal childcare programs.

Two additional measures would transfer international education functions to the State Department. HR 9603 would move oversight of international postsecondary education programs—including the Fulbright-Hays Program—to the State Department and would sunset the Institute for International Public Policy.

HR 9602 would transfer administration of foreign gift disclosure requirements for colleges and universities under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act.

HR 9608 would shift school-safety and family-engagement programs from the Education Department to HHS, while HR 9609 would transfer federal student-loan administration from the Education Department to the Treasury Department.

The student-loan proposal could have the greatest practical impact. Student aid operations account for a substantial share of the Education Department’s responsibilities, and the bill would place the federal loan portfolio under Treasury’s supervision. Republicans say the Treasury already manages aspects of the federal loan system and is better positioned to oversee its financial administration.

Taken together, the legislation reflects a fundamental question at the center of the debate over the future of the Department of Education: Should the federal government continue housing education-related functions under a single department, or should those responsibilities be distributed among agencies that specialize in workforce development, finance, health services, diplomacy, and tribal affairs?

For supporters, the package represents a streamlining effort intended to eliminate bureaucratic overlap. For opponents, it raises concerns about fragmenting federal education policy and reducing centralized accountability for programs affecting millions of students nationwide

Dept. of Ed Closure

For decades, many conservatives have argued that education decisions should be made closer to parents, local communities, and states rather than federal bureaucrats in Washington. The Education Department, created in 1979, has remained a frequent target of criticism from conservatives who view it as an example of federal overreach.

Currently, the department costs taxpayers around $154.11 billion a year, with the goal of enhancing education. However, the 2025 National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that in recent years alone, a record 32% of high school seniors cannot read proficiently, and almost half cannot do basic math.

Fourth and eighth-grade math and reading scores also fell, continuing a collapse that began before the COVID-19 school closures. 

These reasons have led conservatives in Washington to attempt to codify the administration’s desire to shut down the department and return control of education to the states.

However, Walberg has acknowledged the political challenges facing a full shutdown of the department. As recently as May, he said Congress does not currently have the votes needed to eliminate the agency outright, though he expressed support for doing so.

He also praised McMahon for finding “creative” administrative avenues to advance the goal of reducing the department’s size and influence.

Opposing Views

Democrats, meanwhile, blasted the Republican proposal as an attempt to dismantle a critical federal agency.

Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Education and the Workforce Committee, accused Republicans of advancing Trump’s agenda at the expense of students and schools.

“At the behest of Trump, Republicans have introduced a flurry of bills that would dismantle the Department of Education and offload critical offices to agencies that are ill-equipped to carry out core duties,” Scott said in a statement. “Despite Republicans’ rhetoric, they are not ‘modernizing’ the Department—they are blessing President Trump’s scheme to dismantle it piece by piece.”

However, Jonathan Butcher, acting director of the Center for Education Policy and the Will Skillman senior research fellow in education at The Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Signal that critics of efforts argue that the interagency agreements “merely split responsibilities across multiple agencies.”

“These legislative proposals answer this claim by transferring full responsibilities for programs out of Education and to other offices,” Butcher continued. “These transfers serve as a model for future proposals to shift full authority over remaining initiatives out of the Department of Education.”