Education Department officials: We’re not going around Congress

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Parceling out key Education Department functions to other agencies does not represent an end run around Congress, top officials said Thursday, even as they declined to say what might trigger the need for congressional approval.

In a 20-minute video interview with Chalkbeat, assistant secretaries Kirsten Baesler, Kimberly Richey, and Kelly Rogers pushed back against criticism from education advocacy groups, Democratic lawmakers, and even some Republicans.

They argued these changes will be good for students and families in tangible ways — saying that they will improve services for children with disabilities, strengthen civil rights protections, and boost academic outcomes. In a number of cases, though, they offered only limited specifics on how moving around offices would make a practical difference.

Baesler, the former North Dakota schools chief, oversees K-12 programming, which is now under the Department of Labor. Richey oversees civil rights, which will be working more closely with the Department of Justice. Rogers runs the special education arm, which has been moved to the Department of Health and Human Services.

They reiterated the idea that a series of interagency agreements will provide proof of concept that the federal government can best support education without an actual Education Department.

And they said the changes underway are responsive to parent and educator complaints about the status quo — but they could not name leaders or groups not already in the Republican camp who support specific changes, such as moving special education oversight to Health and Human Services.

Here’s what we heard from Education Department leaders:

Officials deny going around Congress

Baesler responded with an emphatic “absolutely not” when asked if the interagency agreements are a way to dismantle the department without getting congressional approval.

“We know that dismantling or the dissolution of the Department of Education will take an act of Congress,” she said. “Our whole intent is to provide evidence to our congressional members of the House and the Senate that this is actually a more efficient and effective way to yield stronger student academic outcomes. … We’re not going around but working with.”

Baesler compared the 14 interagency agreements that have farmed out duties the law assigns to the Education Department to six other departments to times she ran a pilot program in North Dakota before asking state lawmakers to change policy or approve new funding.

But the administration has not treated the effort as a small pilot — it has outsourced several of the largest arms of the agency. After months of limited pushback, some lawmakers are speaking out.

Last week, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Republican chair of the Senate education committee who has stepped up his criticism of the administration since losing his primary, promised a committee vote on a measure that would prevent special education from moving to HHS.

And on Thursday, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, a Michigan Democrat who serves on the House education committee, introduced articles of impeachment that accuse McMahon of “willful intent to unilaterally dismantle and eliminate the Department of Education.”

Schools will get federal money on time this year

Baesler said federal money will go out to states and school districts on July 1, as is typical.

Last summer, the Office of Management and Budget held back some $7 billion that school leaders had been counting on to hire staff and set up programs for the upcoming school year. The money was only restored after outcry from Republican lawmakers and state chiefs.

This year, the Office of Management and Budget has used an obscure procedure to delay placing money in the necessary accounts for some federal grant programs. The affected accounts involve a smaller pot of money than last year’s withholding.

Baesler said school districts will not experience a repeat of last year’s delays.

Officials could not name parents who pushed for special education changes

Rogers laid out the case for the most contentious of recent changes: moving special education oversight to HHS. In listening sessions, Education Department officials heard from parents that their children often need services and support outside of school. She said partnering with HHS will improve services from infancy into adulthood. The ultimate goal, she said, is better long-term outcomes.

While disability advocates have stressed that students with disabilities are students first, Rogers said parents said their children are more than just students. That means Health and Human Services is a better place to meet their needs, she said.

But asked to name a disability rights group or individual who wanted special education to move to HHS, Rogers could not do so. “I don’t have that information right now on who said what, but we took in all the feedback and made the ultimate decision,” she said.

Administration touts state flexibility, even though some leaders aren’t feeling it

Similarly, Baesler said she believes the changes to K-12 education will empower states and local districts and ultimately improve student academic outcomes.

But asked to name a Democratic-appointed or aligned education leader who feels empowered by the administration’s changes, Baesler could not do so. She cited Vermont’s education chief, who was appointed by a Republican. Education leaders in Rhode Island and Washington have previously told Chalkbeat that if anything they are experiencing more federal involvement under the Trump administration.

It’s still not clear how exactly civil rights enforcement will change

The Department of Justice will take a “more active and involved role” in school civil rights complaints going forward, Richey said, while the Office for Civil Rights retains ultimate authority over civil rights enforcement.

“We’re going to continue to be laser focused on complaint investigation and resolution,” Richey said.

The Trump administration has laid off civil rights investigators, closed regional offices, and focused enforcement on high-profile cases involving political priorities such as transgender athletes and campus protests.

Many details of the agreement are still being worked out, Richey said, but the goal is “more aggressive enforcement” and bolstering civil rights in schools.

In an interview last week with conservative commentator Glenn Beck, Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, said Justice has “cut out the middle man, which is Department of Education investigators and lawyers.”

“Ninety-nine percent of the work is going to be done here,” she said.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.