The Trump administration has stated its goal is to close the Education Department to eliminate bureaucratic red tape and improve efficiency. However, reporting by NPR suggests that restructuring efforts over the past 18 months have generated unclear costs and made agency operations more complicated rather than streamlined.
Education Department employees interviewed for the story, who requested anonymity citing concerns about professional repercussions, described changes that have complicated the delivery of federal education funding to states and schools. The administration has relocated hundreds of staff members from the department’s main headquarters to at least nine other federal agency buildings, including moving special education and civil rights offices this month. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has emphasized the administration’s commitment to cutting through bureaucratic layers, and stated that federal funding to schools would continue despite structural changes.
A significant source of concern involves the transition of grant management to other agencies’ systems. The Education Department oversees approximately $18.4 billion annually in Title I grants for schools serving low-income students. Staff responsible for these grants have been reassigned to the Labor Department, which uses systems that employees say were not designed for education funding. The agency has attempted twice to send Title I money through Labor’s systems, but both efforts were halted after states raised concerns about technical problems and inadequate staff training. The next scheduled distribution will use the Education Department’s traditional system, though staff indicate another transition attempt is planned for the following year.
Staff members report that multiple grant management systems are creating confusion for both agency employees and grant recipients. Some workers now must navigate three separate tools instead of one, and recipients face unclear guidance and shifting procedures. At least one career and technical education grant program that was moved to Labor’s systems experienced months-long delays in reaching states. Education Department officials disputed characterizations of inefficiency, citing successful processing of over 7,200 payments totaling more than $1.93 billion since October 1, 2025, through the Labor Department system. Higher education policy experts have noted increased difficulty for colleges and states in accessing information about federal programs and obtaining adequate guidance.
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Article summary produced by Claude AI