On November 18, the U.S. Department of Education announced six interagency agreements to transfer administrative responsibilities for most federal education programs from the Department of Education to four other federal agencies. Nearly all K-12 programs, including Title II-A, will be administered by the U.S. Department of Labor but overall policy responsibility will be retained by the U.S. Department of Education. The Administration’s stated goals for these transfers are to streamline services and send education “back to the states.”
The Office of Special Education Programs, which oversees implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Act, is not included in the current set of agreements, but there is widespread speculation about a forthcoming agreement to transfer responsibilities from that office to the Department of Health and Human Services.
This agreement in no way imperils any federal education funding; it relates only to the administration of federal education funds. Indeed, a fact sheet about the agreement specifies that states will continue receiving all title formula funds. This includes Title II-A, the primary federal funding source for professional learning. Moreover, since states and districts have already received Title II-A funding for the current fiscal year, they will see limited impact of these changes until the next round of funding is due to arrive – summer 2026. In the meantime, Learning Forward will continue to advocate for the preservation and expansion of these funds in the next fiscal year and beyond.
While Learning Forward appreciates the Administration’s stated intent for these actions, we are concerned that these moves could end up harming students, especially the most vulnerable children.
Deep expertise about education policy and practice resides within the Department of Education’s staff and structures. That wealth of knowledge, including research findings and years of experience, inform the billions of dollars’ worth of practices, programs, and policies that these programs support and that benefit children across the country. The Department of Labor, by contrast, has very little education program knowledge or expertise.
Additionally, we are concerned that the decision to move nearly all K-12 programs to the Department of Labor will complicate the delivery of federal education funds and their usage by schools. Schools will no longer have a single, central Department of Education to turn to for questions about policy, funding levels, and funding uses. They will now have to navigate at least two different federal agencies to receive answers. If a school district also receives funding for Indian Education programs, it will now have to deal with a third agency — the Department of the Interior. This runs counter to the intent of Congress, which authorized all K-12 education programs, sited them in a single agency, and funds them annually.
Learning Forward recommends that federal K-12 programs continue to be administrated by the Department of Education. That said, we remain committed to keeping professional learning in the spotlight regardless of where its administrative home is located because we know it is the key that unlocks high-quality teaching and learning for all. We will continue to lead the way toward high-quality educator learning at all levels – federal, state, and local – and through all entities that fund, administer, and oversee it. The Standards for Professional Learning are as relevant and applicable as ever, and they will continue to guide our work to ensure high-quality professional learning for all educators in the service of all students’ success.
