In a move that pushes President Trump’s plan to close the U.S. Department of Education closer to fruition, several large grant programs will be shifting from the ED to other federal agencies. ED has signed six agreements to move billions of grant funds outside of the agency.
According to the agreements, the Department of Labor will soon manage a large portion of K-12 funding pools, including Title I, which supports low-income schools, Full-Service Community Schools, and Promise Neighborhoods. The administration shared that the congressionally set funding levels will remain in place and that they do not expect adverse impact on recipients of these federal programs.
This news comes after multiple waves of job cuts at the Department of Education that began in March. “Today’s news is the latest blow to those supporting quality education across our country,” said IEL President Eddie Koen. “Weakening the ED and adding to the workload of other already-downsized federal agencies hurts the ability of hardworking staff to do their jobs to support children, youth, and families, especially those most in need.”
Stay tuned for more updates from IEL as this story further develops. Click on the following links to see the press release and fact sheet from the ED and Department of Labor.