OLYMPIA—November 18, 2025—Today, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced that it had signed six interagency agreements to move the management of several education programs to other federal agencies––most of which have minimal connection to K–12 education.
Since taking office in January, the Trump Administration has been clear about its intent to eliminate ED. Because doing so would require an act of Congress, the Administration is using interagency agreements to dismantle ED through other avenues, bypassing the authority of the 535 elected members of Congress.
The Department’s stated goals for the transitions are to “return education to the states” and to eliminate federal bureaucracy. There is no evidence that this change would make progress on either of those goals.
Instead, these changes increase the number of federal agencies with oversight of K–12 education five-fold, undoubtedly creating confusion and duplicity for the educators, administrators, and families across the nation who engage with ED staff regularly.
As part of the transition, which is expected to take place within the next few months, the Administration is moving the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) to the U.S. Department of Labor. Many of the programs within OESE were established by Congress to ensure students from historically underserved communities receive the high-quality education that they are owed.
This includes programs designed to support students experiencing homelessness, students experiencing poverty, multilingual/English learners, students who are migratory, students who have dropped out of school or are at-risk of dropping out, and more.
While preparing students for success in the workforce is a key goal of our K–12 education system, maintaining a strong education focus on education programs is what helps students perform better in school. Education programs being run by an agency that is dedicated to enforcing labor laws is not only disjointed, it is potentially harmful to the students who rely on these civil rights protections. It is my expectation that the federal government will follow through on their legal and moral obligations to these student groups, regardless of which federal agency manages the programs.
Regardless of the efforts by the Trump Administration, schools in Washington state are unwavering in our commitment to supporting each and every student who enters our classrooms.
This administration keeps blowing holes in federal agencies and then acting like moving the deck chairs from one sinking ship to another is noble. It is not.
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