The Trump Administration is committed to returning education authority where it belongs: the states!
The Department of Education was established in 1980 with the promise of improving education outcomes for America’s students. $3 trillion in taxpayer dollars later, national test scores in reading, writing, and math have plummeted: in 2024, only 35% of fourth and eighth graders in our nation were proficient in reading, and only 39% of fourth graders and 28% of eighth graders were proficient in mathematics.
Our nation’s failing education system is a direct threat to our economic strength, national security, and civic health. We must restore excellence in education.
Secretary McMahon is entrusted with delivering one of President Trump’s most consequential promises: breaking up the education bureaucracy in D.C. and returning educational responsibility to state and local leaders – and ultimately parents – to unleash a new era of excellence.
Follow along for updates on our work to return education to the states.
Breaking Up the Federal Bureaucracy
Learn how ED is partnering with federal agencies to break up the education bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.
Making change to the status quo in education requires breaking up the education bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. The Department is partnering with better positioned federal agencies to manage federal education programs while continuing the critical funding and support for K-12, education for students with disabilities, and postsecondary education programs.
Learn more about the partnerships we have announced so far:
Department of Education and Department of Labor Workforce Development Partnership
ED and DOL are partnering to create an integrated federal education and workforce system. DOL will take on a greater role in administering the adult education and family literacy programs funded under Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and career and technical education (CTE) programs funded by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins V). Learn more about the Workforce Development partnership successes.
Read the Interagency Agreement Read the Partnership Fact Sheet
Department of Education and Department of Labor Elementary and Secondary Education Partnership
ED and DOL are partnering to empower parents and states, promote innovation, and deliver program improvements in pursuit of better outcomes for students in elementary and secondary education. DOL will take on a greater role in administering federal K-12 programs, ensuring these programs are better aligned with workforce and college programs to set students up for success at every part of their education journey.
Read the Interagency Agreement Read the Partnership Fact Sheet
Department of Education and Department of Labor Postsecondary Education Partnership
ED and DOL are partnering to better coordinate postsecondary education and workforce development programs. Our nation is facing an annual labor shortage of over 700,000 skilled jobs, and further aligning Education and Labor echoes the Trump Administration’s commitment to transforming the federal government’s approach to workforce development.
Read the Interagency Agreement Read the Partnership Fact Sheet
Department of Education and Department of Interior Indian Education Partnership
ED and DOI are partnering to better coordinate Indian Education programs relating to elementary and secondary education, higher education, career and technical education, and vocational rehabilitation, solidifying the Department of Interior, which already has a Bureau of Indian Education, as the key point of contact for Tribes and Native students.
Read the Interagency Agreement Read the Partnership Fact Sheet Tribal Consultation
Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services Foreign Medical Accreditation Partnership
ED and HHS are partnering to apply the expertise of HHS staff to evaluate whether the standards of accreditation for foreign medical schools are comparable with the standards for medical schools in the United States.
Read the Interagency Agreement Read the Partnership Fact Sheet
Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services Child Care Access Means Parents in School Partnership
ED and HHS are establishing the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) Partnership to improve on-campus child care support for parents enrolled in college. As HHS already oversees child care-focused grants, this partnership will bring much needed efficiency and coherent guidelines to the execution of the CCAMPIS program.
Read the Interagency Agreement Read the Partnership Fact Sheet
Department of Education and Department of State International Education and Foreign Language Studies Partnership
ED and State are partnering to tailor foreign education programs to the national security and foreign policy priorities of the United States. The partnership provides an opportunity to streamline international education program funding and data collection measures, consolidate program management, and advance national security interests.
Read the Interagency Agreement Read the Partnership Fact Sheet
Department of Education and Department of State Section 117 Partnership
ED and State are establishing a partnership to improve the accuracy and transparency of foreign gift and contract reporting for certain domestic public and private institutions of higher education in the United States. The Section 117 partnership will ensure the data gathered from the Section 117 foreign funding reporting portal can be easily used by national security experts, allowing potential threats to be addressed decisively and proactively by an agency that is best equipped to protect America’s most vital interests across all domains.
Read the Interagency Agreement Read the Partnership Fact Sheet
Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services Family Engagement and School Support Partnership
ED and HHS are deepening their partnership to improve the safety and physical security of education institutions. The partnership will better keep American students, teachers, and administrators safe and secure in education institutions by consolidating resources and initiatives to provide a unified federal strategy focused on school support and related issues.
Read the Interagency Agreement Read the Partnership Fact Sheet
Department of Education and Department of the Treasury Federal Student Assistance Partnership
ED and Treasury are partnering to enhance the administration of federal student assistance programs, mitigate the continuing fallout and cost to taxpayers from the Biden Administration’s mismanagement of the Federal student loan portfolio, and facilitate the return of defaulted borrowers to repayment.
Read the Interagency Agreement Read the Partnership Fact Sheet
Read Secretary McMahon’s Letter to Students, Families, and Borrowers
Gathering Best Practices
Secretary McMahon has embarked on a 50-state tour to hear directly from teachers, parents, and community leaders about what is working in their communities for their students.
Empowering Local Leaders in K-12 Education
The Department is using all the tools in its toolbox to empower states, localities, and most importantly, parents, to improve education outcomes.
ED has sent “Dear Colleague Letters” to State Chiefs of Education encouraging them to use existing flexibilities in federal law for states to have more discretion over their education systems. Read about the Letters we have sent so far:
President Trump and Secretary McMahon know that school choice and parental empowerment is the key to improving education for our nation’s students. The Department has made record investments in charter schools and Secretary McMahon made school choice one of her grant priorities!
Secretary McMahon has released seven supplemental priorities, tools that allow the Administration to align discretionary grant competitions with its priorities.
Evidence-Based Literacy promotes proven methods of literacy instruction, such as the science of reading, to bolster student performance;
Expanding Education Choice expands access to education choice across all applicable discretionary grant competitions;
Returning Education to the States enables the Department to prioritize state applicants in competitions where they qualify as eligible entities or applicants can endorse other types of entities;
Advancing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education encourages the responsible use of AI technologies to enhance classroom efficiency, reduce administrative burdens, and improve teacher training and evaluation;
Prioritizing Patriotic Education promotes civic education that teaches American history and America’s founding principles in a way that is accurate, honest, and inspiring;
Meaningful Learning focuses on strengthening core instruction in mathematics, expanding access to high-quality instructional materials, promoting effective interventions and supports, creating competency-based instructional models, creating strategic staffing models, implementing new school day schedules, expanding access to high-impact tutoring, supporting career-connected learning, and advancing innovative assessment models; and
Career Pathways and Workforce Readiness supports projects that align workforce development programs with state priorities, encourages state efforts to identify industry-recognized credentials, builds the skilled trades, promotes industry-led sector partnerships, increases work-based learning opportunities, expands pre-apprenticeships, and fosters the development of talent marketplaces.
President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill included the largest federal expansion of education freedom in HISTORY! Visit the Treasury Department's website to learn more about the Education Freedom Tax Credit.
The Trump Administration is committed to returning education to the states by empowering state leaders, who know their students far better than bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., to have more discretion over federal education dollars.
- Read more about what this means for Iowa, the first state to apply for and receive a Returning Education to the States Waiver.
Restoring Excellence and Rightsizing Postsecondary Education in America
The Department is hard at work ensuring higher education is affordable and high-quality for American students and families.
ED is implementing the President’s One Big Beautiful Bill that will bring down the cost of college for students and families and simplify the federal student loan landscape. Visit Federal Student Aid to learn more about the implementation updates.
The One Big Beautiful Bill established the Workforce Pell Grant Program. Starting in July 2026, students enrolled in short-term credential programs, including Emergency Medical Technicians, automotive mechanics, and more, will have access to Federal funds to help them attain high-wage, in-demand skills necessary for employment. Not only will this program help fill the growing skills-gap and labor shortage, but it will create a stronger talent pipeline for our nation’s workforce.
The Trump Administration is also enforcing federal civil rights laws and rooting out illegal DEI and race preferences to reform our nation’s higher education campuses.
The Trump Administration landed historic deals with Columbia University, Brown University, and Northwestern University among others to resolve federal civil rights violations, cease illegal DEI programming, and restore merit and equal treatment under the law to their campuses.
Cornell and the University of Virginia agreed to restore merit in admissions pursuant to the Supreme Court’s ruling in SFFA v. Harvard outlawing race-stereotyping and preferencing.
After the Biden Administration warped Title IX enforcement and damaged women’s sports, the Trump Administration returned to enforcing Title IX on the basis of biological sex on campuses, re-establishing sex-segregated sports and intimate facilities. The University of Pennsylvania and Wagner College agreed to restore to female athletes their titles misappropriated by male athletes and to apologize to women and girls for allowing their education to be marred by sex-discrimination.
The Trump Administration fixed the broken Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), making applications simpler and more efficient to use while promoting transparency for students and borrowers about their earning prospects.
After launching the earliest Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form in history, millions of students have successfully completed the form. The Trump Administration also added an earnings indicator to the FAFSA form so students can see their projected earnings before saddling themselves with debt.