Moving control of federal career, technical, and adult education from the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) as part of an agreement earlier this year was meant to centralize and streamline government workforce programs. However, critics say issues with accessing federal career and technical education (CTE) funding could foretell bigger problems when the Trump administration starts to outsource more of the USDE’s responsibilities to other agencies.

According to Politico, a combination of technical problems, communication lapses, bureaucratic hurdles and scant preparation related to new grant payment systems snarled the process of distributing money from a $1.4 billion program for CTE initiatives for schools and local governments. The record-breaking government shutdown also contributed to the problems. “The shift is like asking states to fly with no air traffic control,” said Richard Kincaid, an assistant state superintendent for college and career pathways at the Maryland State Department of Education, which is among the states that experienced difficulties with its funding from the Carl D. Perkins CTE program. “When you put these sort of programs into agencies that are not well-equipped with the subject matter expertise to take on a number of these large educational programs, the result is going to be a lot of confusion. We’ve now shifted not only to a new grant system but an entirely new grantmaking agency. And now we’ve injected all this chaos into the system, trying to fix something that wasn’t broken to begin with.” he added.

Many of the issues regarding the Perkins program transition are linked to a decision to abandon a unified USDE system that managed federal grants for schools and local communities in favor of what are now two DOL systems.

“The administration’s decision to transfer these congressionally mandated responsibilities and programs to other agencies that lack the necessary policy expertise may have lasting negative impacts on our young people,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in a recent social media post. “And simply moving the administration of these programs to other agencies will not return control of education to the states.”

For more from Politico, click here.

On Nov. 29, the landmark Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) turns 50. President Gerald Ford signed the legislation, originally known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA), guaranteeing students with disabilities the right to a free and appropriate public education.

Before then, no federal requirement existed that schools must educate students with disabilities. In addition to opening public schools to a whole population of children, the law became the catalyst for legions of innovative practices and tools cultivated from both public and private sources. The transformations, special education experts say, were spurred by an ongoing need to individualize student supports while helping children with disabilities progress in general education classrooms.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has made a dramatic change in its position on the relationship between vaccines and autism. The CDC’s website now says a link between vaccines and autism cannot be ruled out, which is contrary to the CDC’s longstanding stance that there is no link. The change comes even though a connection between vaccines and autism has long been debunked by a large body of high-quality research. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long promoted the discredited claim, and that appears to be the impetus for the revised CDC statement.

The CDC’s change has rung alarm bells among public health experts who are already worried about a drop in childhood vaccination, which has led to a resurgence of dangerous childhood diseases such as  measles and whooping cough.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website has been changed to promote false information suggesting vaccines cause autism,” said Dr. Susan J. Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a statement. “Since 1998, independent researchers across seven countries have conducted more than 40 high-quality studies involving over 5.6 million people. The conclusion is clear and unambiguous: There’s no link between vaccines and autism. Anyone repeating this harmful myth is misinformed or intentionally trying to mislead parents. We call on the CDC to stop wasting government resources to amplify false claims that sow doubt in one of the best tools we have to keep children healthy and thriving: routine immunizations.”

In a statement to NPR, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson Andrew Nixon repeated one of the changes to the website: “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.” Nixon also said HHS “has launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism, including investigations on plausible biologic mechanisms and potential causal links.”

“The new statement shows a lack of understanding of the term ‘evidence,'” the Autism Science Foundation said in a statement the organization provided to NPR, adding, “No environmental factor has been better studied as a potential cause of autism than vaccines.”

It’s a statement that’s confusing by design, said Dr. Paul Offitt, a pediatrician and director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). “These are the usual anti-vaccine tropes, misrepresentation of studies, false equivalence,” he says. “They might as well say chicken nuggets might cause autism because you can’t prove that either.”

The changes on the website “blindsided” career scientists at CDC, says Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, a former top CDC official who resigned from the agency in August. “The scientists did not participate in its creation,” he says. “And the data are unvetted.”

Two current CDC staffers, who contacted NPR on November 20th, say the updates are a glaring red flag that indicate the vaccine information on the agency website is no longer credible, and is instead “anti-science.” They requested anonymity out of concern they could lose their jobs for speaking to the press.

Vaccine proponents say the moves are recklessly undermining public confidence in vaccines and fueling vaccine hesitancy, putting the nation’s children at risk. The U.S. appears to be poised to lose its status as having eliminated measles.

The CDC acknowledges in a footnote on its main webpage on autism and vaccines that it still carries a header reading “Vaccines do not cause autism*” and says it hasn’t “been removed due to an agreement with the chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that it would remain on the CDC website.”

In a November 20, 2025 statement, the Chair of the Senate HELP Committee Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said, “I’m a doctor who has seen people die from vaccine-preventable diseases. What parents need to hear right now is vaccines for measles, polio, hepatitis B and other childhood diseases are safe and effective and will not cause autism. Any statement to the contrary is wrong, irresponsible, and actively makes Americans sicker.”

For more from NPR, click here.

On Tuesday, November 18, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) announced six new interagency agreements (IAAs) with four agencies to break up the USDE saying that doing so will “ensure efficient delivery of funded programs, activities, and move closer to fulfilling the President’s promise to return education to the states. By partnering with agencies that are best positioned to deliver results for students and taxpayers, these IAAs will streamline federal education activities on the legally required programs, reduce administrative burdens, and refocus programs and activities to better serve students and grantees.”

The partnerships with the Departments of Labor (DOL), Interior (DOI), Health and Human Services (HHS), and State follow a workforce development partnership signed with DOL earlier this year.

“The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission. As we partner with these agencies to improve federal programs, we will continue to gather best practices in each state through our 50-state tour, empower local leaders in K-12 education, restore excellence to higher education, and work with Congress to codify these reforms. Together, we will refocus education on students, families, and schools – ensuring federal taxpayer spending is supporting a world-class education system.” 

According to a USDE press release, the USDE and DOL “are establishing the Elementary and Secondary Education Partnership to empower parents and states, promote innovation, and deliver program improvements in pursuit of better outcomes for students in elementary and secondary education. DOL will take on a greater role in administering federal K-12 programs, ensuring these programs are better aligned with workforce and college programs to set students up for success at every part of their education journey. With proper oversight by USDE, DOL will manage competitions, provide technical assistance, and integrate USDE’s programs with the suite of employment and training programs DOL already administers.”

In addition, the press release states that the USDE and DOI are establishing the Indian Education Partnership “to improve Native American education in the United States. DOI will take on a greater role in administering Indian Education programs relating to elementary and secondary education, higher education, career and technical education, and vocational rehabilitation, solidifying the agency as the key point of contact for Tribes and Native students. With proper oversight by USDE, DOI will manage competitions, provide technical assistance, and integrate USDE’s Indian Education programs with the suite of programs DOI already administers.”

According to K-12 Dive, the shifting of responsibilities is a historic change for the 46-year-old agency that has been the central hub of federal grant-making, technical assistance and civil rights enforcement for schools and colleges. The changes do not include movement for the management of special education, civil rights enforcement or student financial aid. However, a senior USDE official who spoke during a press call said the agency was continuing to explore options for those programs.

In a statement announcing American Education Week, President Donald Trump said, “By dismantling the Department of Education, my Administration has returned control of education to where it belongs — with States, local communities, and parents who are best equipped to meet the needs of their students.”

And in an opinion piece published in USA Today on Sunday, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the recently ended 43-day shutdown of the federal government showed that the USDE isn’t needed.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

View the partnership fact sheet for Elementary and Secondary Education here.

View the partnership fact sheet for Indian Education here.

View the press release in its entirety by clicking here.

On November 6, 2025, six U.S. Senators introduced the Securing Assurance for Federal Employees (SAFE) Act, legislation to explicitly prohibit the federal government from carrying out reductions in force (RIFs) during a lapse in appropriations. The bill would also reverse RIF actions taken during the current government shutdown.

The SAFE Act comes in response to recent efforts by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to initiate thousands of RIFs during the ongoing shutdown – an unprecedented step that a federal judge has already said appears “politically motivated,” illegal, and “arbitrary and capricious.”

More than 4,000 federal employees have received RIF notices since early October. While the court has temporarily blocked these actions, the threat remains for many other federal employees serving the American public without pay during this shutdown.

Current law does not permit agencies to conduct RIFs during a lapse in appropriations. This bill reaffirms and makes explicit Congress’s intent that no administration may use a shutdown as a pretext to initiate layoffs. The SAFE Act makes clear that such actions have no legal force and ensures federal workers cannot be targeted for job cuts during a funding lapse.

The legislation is endorsed by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME), International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), National Education Association (NEA), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

All those sponsoring the bill are Democrats.

Read the full bill here.