Education Department transfers grant programs to HHS and State

The Education Department announced new agreements transferring grant programs to the Health and Human Services Department and the State Department, the latest step in the Trump administration’s strategy to reshape federal education policy through the redistribution of functions to other agencies. Education Secretary Linda McMahon framed the moves as progress toward the administration’s stated goal of reducing the department’s role.

The agreements target millions of dollars in education funding, with one program shifting to HHS for school safety and community engagement efforts while another transfers foreign gift tracking oversight to the State Department. The administration has already moved billions in federal education funding through similar agreements, though critics warn the transfers place oversight responsibilities with agencies lacking education expertise.

Program Transfers Advance Restructuring Strategy

The Education Department announced new agreements Monday that transfer grant programs to the Health and Human Services Department and the State Department, advancing the Trump administration’s strategy to reshape federal education policy through the redistribution of functions to other federal agencies.

Under one interagency agreement, HHS will assume responsibility for grant programs that distribute millions of dollars to schools for safety and community engagement efforts. A second agreement transfers oversight of Section 117, which requires colleges and universities to disclose foreign gifts of $250,000 or more annually, to the State Department.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon characterized the transfers as progress toward reducing the department’s footprint. “As we continue to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states, our new partnerships with the State Department and HHS represent a practical step toward greater efficiency, stronger coordination, and meaningful improvement,” McMahon said in a statement.

Pattern of Transfers and Uncertain Funding

The latest agreements extend a pattern established over the past year. The Education Department signed seven similar interagency agreements last year, transferring work to the Department of Labor, Interior Department, State Department, and HHS. Those transfers encompassed billions of dollars in education funding, including Title I grants that support low-income students.

The future of the programs now moving to HHS faces significant uncertainty. The Trump administration’s 2026 budget request proposed eliminating the budget for five of the six programs being transferred. In December, recipients of Promise Neighborhoods and Full-Service Community Schools grants, which fund academic and afterschool enrichment, were notified their funding would not continue in 2026, abruptly halting programs across the country.

The Education Department’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, which administers billions of dollars in grants and oversees state compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, remains untouched by the latest agreements. McMahon has previously indicated those programs should move to HHS, but the proposal has faced resistance from members of Congress, including some in her own party, over concerns about continuity and oversight.

Opposition From Unions and Democrats

Union representatives criticized the transfers as creating confusion and removing oversight from agencies without education expertise. “This isn’t efficiency—Secretary McMahon is creating confusion for schools and colleges, eroding public trust, and harming students and families,” said Rachel Gittleman, president of AFGE Local 252, the union representing Education Department workers. “This is an insult to the tens of millions of students who rely on the Department to safeguard access to quality education and to the taxpayers who depend on federal oversight to prevent waste.”

Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington state opposed the agreements on both practical and legal grounds. “These illegal agreements aren’t just creating pointless new bureaucracy that burdens our already-overworked teachers and schools; they are actively jeopardizing resources and support that students and families count on and are entitled to under the law,” Murray said.

Both Trump and McMahon have acknowledged that only Congress has the legal authority to formally close the Education Department. The administration has pursued what it describes as a practical alternative: transferring the department’s core functions to other federal agencies while reducing its institutional role.