A series of bills in Congress are aimed at closing the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). In the Senate, the Returning Education to Our States Act, outlines where each of the USDE’s responsibilities would be transferred. The bill also proposes to convert federal education funding into block grants, which it is claimed would give states more flexibility on how to spend federal fund. That bill is sponsored by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D). Under the bill the USDE would close one year after the bill’s enactment. Rounds has said that the bill would save $2.2 billion per year. Also in the Senate, S. 1148, simply says the USDE should be terminated on December 31, 2026.

In the House, H.R. 2456, The Orderly Liquidation of the Department of Education Act, sponsored by Rep Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), proposes an Office of Education within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which would include a director of education position. This would take things back to the pre-USDE days when an Office of Education resided within the old U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. In addition, mirroring S. 1148, H.R. 899 states that the USDE should be terminated on December 31, 2026.

Closing the USDE requires a Senate supermajority of 60 votes. For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

An April 9, 2025 court agreement has given school districts a short reprieve, until at least April 24th, from a Trump administration directive to certify they’re not using diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices, or risk losing federal funding. The agreement postpones the original U.S. Department of Education (USDE) 10-day certification deadline issued on April 3, 2025.

The agreement came between parties in a lawsuit filed March 5, 2025 by the National Education Association (NEA), its New Hampshire chapter, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against the USDE. It ensures that the USDE’s anti-DEI efforts aren’t enforced until after a full hearing in the case, which is scheduled for April 17, 2025 before the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire.

In addition to the certification requirement, other anti-DEI efforts temporarily curbed by the agreement include a Feb. 14 Dear Colleague letter telling schools to cease race-based programs and an anti-DEI portal subsequently launched to collect reports of “divisive ideologies” and “indoctrination.” 

The Trump administration has used the Supreme Court’s decision in SFFA v. Harvard, to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs that were meant to level the playing field for vulnerable students. Several states have rebuked the certification requirement, which threatens to cut federal education funds over DEI initiatives.

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On April 4, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) rescinded the liquidation of hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency pandemic funds that were previously approved for extensions for the spending. The unexpected decision notified state education leaders in a letter that said they are responsible for laying out money for the expenses before they can seek USDE reimbursement.

According to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, the spending extensions were “not justified,” and “extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion.” As of late February, about $4.4 billion of $201.3 billion remained in unspent funds from the three federal relief allocations under the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund approved by Congress.

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On March 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) released a statement regarding a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) sent on the same day by U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon to education leaders claiming that states and school districts are violating privacy laws by “hiding critical information, such as a child’s ‘gender transition,’ from parents about their child’s mental and physical wellbeing and safety.” The letter also avers that leaders must make sure that parents are kept informed about “ideological indoctrination” in schools to remain compliant with two federal privacy laws and if schools want to continue receiving federal funds they must abide by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment.

The USDE also said that the DCL follows reports that states and school districts are violating these privacy laws by “hiding critical information, such as a child’s ‘gender transition,’ from parents about their child’s mental and physical wellbeing and safety.”

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On April 3, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) announced it was canceling a fiscal year 2025 grant application for a technical assistance center that supported postsecondary transition services for students with disabilities saying that the decision was part of a comprehensive review to ensure “competitions align with the objectives established by the Trump Administration.” The notice also stated that, “The Department is dedicated to optimizing the impact of our grant competitions on students and families, as well as enhancing the economic effectiveness of federal education funding.”

The move flies in the face of U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon testifying at her confirmation hearing that a priority of hers as education secretary would be to ensure funds for students with disabilities are not impacted.

In efforts to combat the drastic funding reductions to the USDE and a proposed transfer of special education programming to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in an April 2nd letter from 23 Democratic senators to McMahon stating that such moves will cause “immense harm” to students with disabilities and that “Congress has promised to families that students with disabilities will have a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment and has specifically charged the Department of Education with making that promise real in the lives of students with disabilities.”

The letter also asks McMahon to provide information in specific questions by April 11, 2025.

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