On July 15, 2026, the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee approved 10 Republican-led bills that are the first steps in eventually closing the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). The bills would codify several interagency agreements the USDE already has in place that move core education-related functions, but not the statutory responsibilities for them, out of the USDE and into other federal agencies. Select legal responsibilities would be permanently moved out of the USDE, including programs involving K-12 student academic supports, career and technical education, and federal student loan activities.

Committee Chair Tim Walberg, R-Mich., sponsor of two bills in the 10-bill package, said the USDE has “failed.” Conversely, ranking committee member Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., opposed the bills, saying the transfers were “impractical” and “represent the abdication of the federal government’s responsibility to ensure that all students, regardless of race, religion, disability, income, or zip code, have access to a quality public education. Whatever you say about the ‘problems’ at the Department of Education, these bills will only make things worse.”

The panel’s Republican majority rejected Democrat-led amendments to the bills, including those to require progress reports, funding guardrails, and increased staffing to support the outsourced activities.

The bills still need full House and then Senate approval.

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In a July 13, 2026 letter to federal legislators, 13 former federal officials who were responsible for overseeing special education implementation in states and districts urged Congress to reject the U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) plans to move programs serving students with disabilities to another federal agency.

The letter’s authors are former officials who served under every presidential administration since President Richard Nixon, including during the first President Donald Trump administration, but not for the second Trump administration. According to the letter, efforts to shift special education responsibilities to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “dismantles, rather than relocates, the federal infrastructure built over five decades” of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

It also expressed concern that moving special education programs from the USDE’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to HHS would deprioritize students’ educational needs. In fact, according to the letter, “Moving IDEA’s implementation into a health agency risks substituting medical management for educational access.”

In June, the USDE announced four interagency agreements, including one to move certain special education activities to HHS. USDE also stated it was transferring some civil rights activities from its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

In total, the USDE has publicly announced 14 interagency agreements with six other federal agencies. The agreements come as the Trump administration works to eliminate the USDE.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.