In a markup last Wednesday, the House Committee on Education and Workforce approved ten bills that would permanently move programs out of the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and into other agencies currently administering those programs through interagency agreements (IAAs). The bills passed would each individually cement one of the agreements put into place by the agency, formalizing the administration’s moves and permitting the agencies receiving these programs to directly issue grant awards, run competitions, and promulgate regulations.
In the markup, House Education and Workforce Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) called the creation of ED a “politically motivated mistake” designed to reward the support of the teachers’ unions, but none of the bills would directly eliminate the agency – only shrink its scope. They would, however, delegate some specific responsibilities of ED officials to counterparts at partner agencies. For example, one bill would delegate the functions of ED’s assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education to the Department of Labor’s Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training.
Committee Democrats criticized the bills, expressing concern about the unproven capacity of the “partner” agencies to maintain administration of the programs. Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) asked, “[a]re you conceding that the existing IAAs are illegal, and therefore only an Act of Congress can dismantle the Department of Education? And if they are not illegal, then why are these bills necessary?”
The legislative package faces an uncertain fate on the floor of the House, and Senators like Patty Murray (D-WA) have said the bills have no chance of passing in the Senate.
