The Trump administration announced Tuesday that the Department of Education is handing off some of its largest grant programs to other federal agencies — e.g., federal funding for K-12 schools serving low-income communities to the Labor Department — as it accelerates its plan to dismantle the department.
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) responded to the announcement with disapproval.
On social media, Murkowski wrote: “Congress created the Department of Education to ensure our nation has a coordinated, comprehensive approach to education that meets our children where they are and helps them achieve greatness. The Department’s mission is to centralize subject-matter experts who help states, schools, colleges, and parents support student success. But it is our nation’s schools, colleges, and school boards that determine how our nation’s students are educated due to the return to local control that Congress baked into federal K-12 education law and the longstanding independence of our nation’s colleges.”
Congress created the Department of Education to ensure our nation has a coordinated, comprehensive approach to education that meets our children where they are and helps them achieve greatness. The Department’s mission is to centralize subject-matter experts who help states,…
— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (@lisamurkowski) November 20, 2025
The Alaskan Senator added: “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. And simply moving the administration of these programs to other agencies will not return control of education to the states. I strongly oppose the administration’s effort to circumvent the law by dumping critical programs onto other agencies simply because there are not sufficient votes in Congress to eliminate the Department.”
Rachel Gittleman, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, which represents more than 2,700 U.S. Department of Education employees, said the other agencies picking up programs from the Education Department “are not equipped or positioned to provide the same support and services as ED staff.”
(Note: The Interior Department will oversee programs for Native American education and the State Department will oversee foreign language programs.)
AFGE also argues that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment rights of workers it fired from the agency. On Friday, the union urged the administration to “update the 700+ employees who were illegally fired, told to come back, and still have no access to their computers or email.”
Yes, violating the First Amendment rights of workers tends to do that.
Now update the 700+ employees who were illegally fired, told to come back, and still have no access to their computers or email.
Maybe start there. https://t.co/5hKlx6re8K
— AFGE Local 252 (@AFGELocal252) November 14, 2025