The Education Department is dismantling. Here’s what that means

The Education Department is breaking off several of its main offices and giving their responsibilities to other federal agencies, an early look at how President Donald Trump could fulfill his campaign pledge to close the department entirely.

Offices that serve the nation’s schools and colleges would go to departments ranging from Labor to Interior. Education officials say the moves won’t affect the money Congress gives states, schools and colleges. They didn’t say whether current department staff would keep their jobs.

Since he took office, Trump has called for the dismantling of the Education Department, saying it has been overrun by liberal thinking. Agency leaders have been making plans to parcel out its operations to other departments, and in July the Supreme Court upheld mass layoffs that halved the department’s staff.

In recent days, Education Secretary Linda McMahon has started a public campaign for the end of her department, making the case on social media that Education’s grantmaking and question-answering functions could be better handled by states and other federal agencies.

While the necessity of the department is up for debate, it’s also unclear how well-equipped other state and federal departments are to take over the Education Department’s responsibilities. The department sends billions of dollars to schools and colleges and helps decipher complex federal laws. It will be a test for the administration: Can the department be shut down smoothly, or will rural and low-income kids and students with disabilities — the populations that most rely on federal education support — be impacted?

Here’s what the Education Department currently handles, where its responsibilities will go to other federal agencies and what will stay the same.

Money for schools and colleges

While American schools are funded primarily by state and local money, the Education Department serves as a conduit for billions of dollars of federal aid going to state and local education agencies.

Education officials say that money will continue to be awarded as allocated by Congress, but much of it will flow from another federal agency. Most notably, the Department of Labor will oversee some of the largest federal funding streams for schools and colleges, including Title I money for schools serving low-income communities. Adult education programs already were moved to Labor in June.

Another deal will put Health and Human Services in charge of a grant program for parents who are attending college. The State Department will take on money to fund foreign language programs. Interior will oversee programs supporting Native American education.

Federal student loans

One of the department’s major roles is management of the $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio. Student aid so far will be largely unaffected, although McMahon and Trump have suggested it could be better handled by a different federal department.

Pell Grants and federal loans will continue to be disbursed, and student loan borrowers must continue making payments on their debts.

The website for the Free Application for Student Aid, or FAFSA, remains open — a key piece of how colleges and universities provide aid packages to incoming students. The Education Department will continue to handle support for people navigating the complicated form.

The Education Department also will continue to oversee another major part of higher education: accreditation, which allows colleges to accept students’ federal financial aid.

Students with disabilities

For now, the department will continue to distribute money to schools to provide educational support for students with disabilities, though McMahon has suggested this function could move to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The Education Department also oversees investigations into schools and universities alleged to have violated disability rights law, along with other civil rights violations such as discrimination involving sex, race and shared ancestry.

Those responsibilities will remain with the department for now, although McMahon has suggested sending them to the Department of Justice.

In any case, since the mass layoffs in March, the Office for Civil Rights has operated under a significantly reduced footprint. The department’s civil rights branch lost about half of its staff. The cuts raised questions about whether the office would be able to shrink a backlog of complaints from students who allege they have experienced discrimination on the basis of race, sex or disability status.

The department’s own data has shown a decline in resolving civil rights cases, while new complaints from families have increased.