Six Department of Education Offices To Be Under Shared Control with Four Other Cabinet-Level Agencies
Overview
Yesterday The Washington Post broke the story regarding a pending announcement by President Trump and the U.S. Department of Education of a transition of additional Offices within the U.S. Department of Education to other federal agencies similar to the way in which the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education’s (OCTAE) funding and administration were begun earlier this year.
Under intergovernmental agreements (Agreement), the Trump Administration, under the direction of Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, announced the shared oversight, but not control of six more Offices with four other federal agencies.
It is important to note that under the Agreement the authority and leadership of the Office remains at the Department of Education while all the operations – including the primary staffing and activities are to be transitioned to the new agency.
Here are the details of where the six Offices within the Department will be relocated and additional information on the structure based upon CSPEN conversations with multiple sources.
The Six Offices New Homes
Department of Labor
The Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE)
Department of Health and Human Services
The Administration for Children and Families Relating to the CCAMPIS Program and the National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation
Department of Interior
The Office of Indian Education
Department of State
The administration of International Education and Foreign Language programs. CSPEN is still awaiting information on whether this will also include ESL programs as well.
Details on the Office of Postsecondary Education’s Transition
Regulatory policy and oversight will join OCTAE as programs administered jointly by the Departments of Education and Labor. It is CSPEN’s understanding that this joint leadership will keep Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education David Barker within the Department of Education, while the day-to-day coordination of policy direction for various federal student loan and grant programs will be transitioning to the Department of Labor.
Currently, the Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education manages approximately $185 billion in student loan and grant programs, which is roughly 80% of the Department’s budget. This includes overseeing the administration of $2 billion in discretionary grants awarded annually to institutions of higher education. It also includes the primary functions of oversight of the institutions of higher education and other key functions regarding campus-based, federal work-study and more.
What IS NOT under the OPE’s functions are the management of the $1.5-1.7 trillion student loan programs under the direction of the Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid.
But, as you all know all too well, these two Offices OPE and FSA are inextricably linked to one another in an effort to ensure that the federal higher education programs in total align with one another, the education priorities enacted within the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, and the goals to improve accountability and student success.
What’s Next
CSPEN will be monitoring with even greater intensity this afternoon’s Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education hearing entitled “From Classroom to Career: Strengthening Skills Pathways Through CTE” in light of yesterday’s announcement. We already anticipated Democratic minority members of the Subcommittee to ask probing questions regarding the transition of OCTAE to the Department of Labor. Given the recent actions, we now anticipate that the announcement and the broader discussion may overtake the hearing which was/is supposed to be focused on career pathways and students ability to pursue postsecondary career pathways during and after completion of elementary and secondary education. You can watch the proceedings, which begin this afternoon at 2PM ET here (https://www.youtube.com/live/dGeNSCFSUAc) .
