Dive Brief:
- The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions approved a bipartisan bill Thursday that would prohibit the U.S. Department of Education from transferring four of its offices to other federal agencies. The bill, which was advanced in a 13-9 vote, now awaits a full Senate vote.
- The legislation, S. 5046, would specifically block the outsourcing of Education Department offices that oversee special education, postsecondary education, elementary and secondary education, and Native American education programs.
- Despite Senate Democrats’ attempts during the committee markup to include an amendment that would also block the transfer of the department’s Office for Civil Rights, the change was rejected by a 12-11 vote.
Dive Insight:
Since May 2025, the Education Department has signed 14 interagency agreements with six other federal agencies to transfer many K-12 and higher education responsibilities.
The Education Department has said the agreements will help break up federal bureaucracy as the Trump administration aims to dismantle the agency and, in turn, give states more authority on fiscal and policy decisions for education.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chairman of the HELP committee, said during the Thursday markup that he will not vote in favor of S. 5046, because he does not oppose all of the Education Department’s interagency agreements that would be impacted by the bill.
“I do think the administration should be allowed to pilot how to address inefficiencies and the potential for efficiencies by operationalizing these IAAs,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy did, however, emphasize that he’s against the agreement between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Education Department’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Cassidy had proposed a bill for the markup focused exclusively on that interagency agreement, but he said the committee would no longer consider it for a final vote given that it was already included in S. 5046.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said in the markup that he introduced S. 5046 to “maintain really core components” of the agency. He added that there were other services and responsibilities within the Education Department that he wanted to include, but could not yet in order to quickly reach bipartisan consensus.
One of the bill’s co-sponsors, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said that S. 5046 keeps the implementation of landmark education programs at the Education Department.
Collins added that the department’s interagency agreements targeted by the bill “are misaligned with their program purposes.” For instance, she pointed to the agreement between HHS and OSERS, which oversees the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.
That agreement, Collins said, “fundamentally misunderstands the history and intent of the special education program, which was created in 1975 to ensure that children with disabilities receive a free and appropriate public education.”
The committee also approved an amendment to S. 5046 that would require the Education Department to report on the cost of its interagency agreements, which U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said are intended to make the government more efficient. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who proposed the amendment, said the Education Department should prove whether that goal is being met.
To implement one of its interagency agreements with the U.S. Department of Labor, the Education Department has paid over a million dollars, Murray said.
“Show us the receipts,” Murray said. “There are now 13 more of these agreements, and Congress has not received any information about what they cost.”
In a Thursday letter sent to Congressional leaders, McMahon asked the House and Senate to support the Education Department’s 14 interagency agreements, as “misconceptions have circulated.” The agreements, she said, “have demonstrated measurable results by driving stronger grant competitions, streamlining government operations, and producing better outcomes for Americans.”
In recent weeks, House Republicans introduced 10 bills that would codify most of the Education Department’s interagency agreements. However, the bills excluded the transfer of certain special education programming and some civil rights activities to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Justice, respectively.
The legislative package was announced by Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee. And unlike the interagency agreements, the House proposals go further by transferring the Education Department’s statutory responsibilities for those activities to other federal agencies.
Other K-12 bills that passed out of Thursday’s Senate committee markup session included:
- S. 4689, the Reading Excellence and Achievement for Development Act, which would make changes to state literacy development grant programs and align the science of reading with federal accountability and investments in research, teacher preparation and evidence-based instruction.
- S. 3010, the 21st Century Dyslexia Act, which aims to amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to promote early screenings for children with dyslexia.
