Trump Announces Several Interagency Agreements under the Department of Education

On November 18, President Trump and U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced several interagency agreements (IAA), including partnerships with the Department of Labor (DOL) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). According to the provided fact sheets (see below), the Department of Education “will maintain all statutory responsibility and will continues its oversight of these programs,” but will yield other responsibilities through these partnerships. The announced IAAs include:

• The Elementary and Secondary Education Partnership with DOL (see fact sheet);
• Postsecondary Education Partnership with DOL (see fact sheet);
• Indian Education Partnership with the Department of Interior (DOI) (see fact sheet);
• Foreign Medical Accreditation Partnership with HHS (see fact sheet);
• Child Care Access Means Parents in School Partnership with HHS (see fact sheet);
• International Education and Foreign Language Studies (IEFLS) Partnership with the Department of State (see fact sheet).

Notably, in both the President’s Budget Request (PBR) and the House fiscal year (FY) 2026 bill, IEFLS would see its funding terminated (see COSSA’s analyses). In the provided fact sheet, it notes that “the Trump Administration did not fund some of these programs in Fiscal Year 2025 because the Administration prioritized other programs. Should Congress fund these programs in the future, State would be a fit as it maintains the national security and foreign policy expertise to manage them.” The fact sheet proceeds to note several grants that have, according to the Administration, “deviated” from the core mission of the program, prompting them to pursue this partnership.

While IAA’s do not require Congressional oversight to implement, several Congressional members have sounded the alarm, including Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), who stated, “This is an outright illegal effort to continue dismantling the Department of Education.” While it is unclear if the Administration’s intention is to effectively shutter the agency, this announcement is especially worrying for the research community as it follows several attacks on the Department of Education, including mass layoffs of federal workers and unprecedented grant cancellations. Any official action to eliminate the department would require Congressional approval.

Stay tuned for COSSA’s continued coverage on the latest developments.