Senate Panel Passes Bill to Reverse Dismantling of Education Department
In a letter to Congress, Trump cabinet members say they’ve created 'commonsense partnerships' that are already delivering 'measurable results.'
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A Senate committee advanced legislation Thursday aimed at undoing the Trump administration’s efforts to split apart the U.S. Department of Education. The bill delivers the plan the biggest rebuke since Education Secretary Linda McMahon began shifting offices to other agencies last year.
The education committee’s would keep oversight of K-12 and services for students with disabilities at the department. It would also keep the Office of Postsecondary Education out of the Department of Labor and the Office of Indian Education from moving to the Department of the Interior.
The legislation leaves “landmark education programs,” like Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act “at the Department of Education where Congress specifically put them and where they belong,” said Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, who along with GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who chairs the committee, voted no on the bill, saying that he’s open to moving some programs, but opposes giving the Department of Health and Human Services responsibility for special education. That move treats “students with disabilities as patients to diagnose rather than learners to educate,” he said, adding that he doubts that any Education Department staff transferred there would be “empowered and prioritized” to do their jobs.
Despite the bipartisan support for leaving much of the department intact, nine members, all Republicans, voted against it. “Many of us have long believed that the federal footprint in education is much larger than it needs to be,” said Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
Following the vote, McMahon and six other Trump cabinet members saying there are “misconceptions” about the agreements and they just need more time to prove they’ll work. They have already “demonstrated measurable results by driving stronger grant competitions, streamlining government operations and producing better outcomes for Americans,” they wrote.
Political observers have said since the beginning that the administration’s plan to eliminate the department doesn’t stand a chance of passing the Senate, and Thursday was evidence of that. The legislation, however, still needs to pass the full Senate and is a sharp contrast to the package of 10 bills the House education committee moved earlier this month formalizing the movement of most key programs out of the department. While House Republicans call the arrangements “reform,” the actions have prompted Rep. Suzanne Bonamici to launch an impeachment effort against McMahon. The Oregon Democrat says the agreements are illegal and that the Republicans’ bills are an attempt “to cover for the unlawful actions already taken.”
Even if the House passes those 10 bills, it’s highly unlikely they would ever get votes in the Senate, said David Cleary, a principal with The Group, a Washington lobbying firm and a former Republican education staffer for the Senate.
The Senate bill, he added, might not go any further either. It’s possible, he said, that Collins and Murkowski could attach it as an amendment to the for defense spending that Republicans are trying to pass through a process known as reconciliation. But even then, it might fail, Cleary said.
During that July 15 markup in the House, Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia said that the proposals don’t do anything to fulfill McMahon’s promise to “return education to the states.”
“You’re just moving people around Washington D.C.,” he said.
On Thursday, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington pressed the department to disclose how much the moves are costing taxpayers.
The Senate bill includes her amendment requiring McMahon to provide Congress with quarterly reports on how much the department is spending to implement the agreements. The department, so far, has spent $1 million to move just one relatively small office running to the Department of Labor, and the administration is asking for an to hire more staff to help with the transition.
“If you’re proud of this deal, show us the price tag,” Murray said. “What do you have to hide?”
Murray also offered separate amendments to reverse all of the agreements, including relocating the Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice, but those didn’t pass the committee. Collins said she’s in favor of letting the Justice Department take over education civil rights investigations because she said OCR has failed to address anti-semitism on college campuses.
But Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a Democrat, said the move won’t improve conditions for Jewish students because the administration has downsized the civil rights workforce.
“We are at a 12-year low in terms of the number of cases that are being resolved,” he said. DOJ is “just out of the business of trying to investigate serious instances of civil rights abuse.”
Of all the interagency agreements, placing special education within HHS has received the most attention. One advocacy group supports the change, arguing that the shift would offer families more resources when their children transition out of the K-12 system. Out of the , HHS already runs federally funded programs for adults with disabilities.
“Too many students leave school without a clear path to a meaningful career, education or training path,” Rachel Barkley, director of Able Americans, wrote in .
But overall, have been highly unpopular. Over 700 organizations have signed saying that moving special education to HHS and civil rights to the Department of Justice undermines a “coordinated and cohesive approach” to addressing discrimination complaints.
Shifting oversight, some advocates say, not only separates special education from OCR, but also from the Office for Elementary and Secondary Education, which McMahon transferred to the Department of Labor.
“These are education programs,” Bonamici said during the July 15 House markup. “K-12 is education; it is not job training.”
On a recent call with reporters, led by Murray, one parent explained that when her older son was diagnosed with a disability, she immediately wondered if he would ever go to college. Both of Lanya Elsa’s sons have Usher syndrome, a genetic disease that affects hearing and vision.
Conner, now 26, graduated college and works for Alaska Airlines. Dalton, 18, graduated this year with a 4.0 GPA from Bellevue High School in Washington. She attributed their success to the Department of Education’s “specialized expertise.”
“That future was not guaranteed for them,” said Elsa, also a special education researcher and teacher. “It was made possible by families, educators, specialists, … federally funded deafblind programs and civil rights protections that believed my sons belonged.”
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