June 29, 2026
Media contact: Dorie Turner Nolt, dorie.turner@gmail.com, 404-861-1127
Washington, D.C. — American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, the union for the workers at the U.S. Department of Education (ED), is denouncing the agency for unlawfully moving the majority of P-12 program workers to the U.S. Departments of Labor (Labor) and Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an ongoing effort to dismantle ED.
Starting today, despite multiple complaints and grievances filed by the union, as well as ongoing litigation brought by 21 attorneys general and other federal labor unions, ED is transferring about 60 employees from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) to other federal agencies with no expertise in education or experience serving students and families.
“The Trump Administration continues to dismantle the Education Department unlawfully — even after Congress and the courts warned Secretary Linda McMahon she doesn’t have the authority,” said Rachel Gittleman, president of AFGE Local 252. “Students, families, and taxpayers are already paying the price: funding delays, confusion for both employees and the public, wasted taxpayer dollars, and no accountability or oversight. Shuffling education programs to other agencies doesn’t make government work better — it breaks it.”
ED Divisions that will move to Labor
- Division of Teaching, Leading, and Learning
- Instructional Leadership and Educator Development Group
- Literacy Achievement Group
- Division of Family Empowerment and Education Choice (split between Labor and HHS)
- Education Choice Group
- Division of Safe Schools (split between Labor and HHS)
The divisions above oversee the following programs (view program descriptions):
- Preschool Development Grant program
- Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grants program
- Innovative Approaches to Literacy grant program
- Supporting Effective Educator Development program
- Charter Schools Program – State Entity Grant program
- Charter Schools Program – Charter Management Organizations Grant program
- Charter School Programs – Credit Enhancement Grant program
- Charter School Programs – State Charter School Facilities Incentive Grant program
- Charter School Programs – Developer Grant program components and National Activities
- Teacher and School Leader Incentive program
- Teacher Quality Partnership Grant
- Magnet Schools Assistance program
ED Divisions that will move to HHS
- State and Grantee Support Services
- Division of Family Empowerment and Education Choice (split between Labor and HHS)
- Family and Community Empowerment Group
The divisions above oversee the following programs (view program descriptions):
- Ready to Learn Programming Grant program
- Full-Service Community Schools
- Promise Neighborhoods program
- Statewide Family Engagement Centers
- School Emergency Response to Violence (Project SERV) program
- School Safety National Activities
This is part of an interagency agreement announced by McMahon in November, one of 14 agreements that will scatter education programs unlawfully across six federal agencies. These agreements unlawfully transfer hundreds of grant programs that support career, technical and adult, Pre-K-12 and higher education grant programs worth tens of billions of dollars to other federal agencies, ignoring clear directions from Congress and the courts.
“These interagency agreements are the opposite of efficiency — they are chaos,’ Gittleman said. “The agreements create unnecessary, additional layers of bureaucracy for states, communities, schools and families. They sow chaos for states, grantees, and the American public that now have to go to six different federal Departments for answers to questions and making it harder for federal workers to do their jobs on behalf of the public. Secretary McMahon continues to choose playing politics over serving the American people.”
To date, the fullest interagency moves have been the Office of Career and Technical Education and the Office of Postsecondary Education, which are now spread across Labor and HHS, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Department of the Interior. The union has filed a complaint with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration about the long-documented, abhorrent working conditions at Labor’s Frances Perkins Building, which houses the bulk of transferred ED programs. The agency has also moved some Federal Student Aid staff to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. ED leadership has said they intend to continue these agreements indefinitely.
The most recent move comes on the heels of a new report from the ED’s Inspector General that shows that ED can no longer fulfill its congressionally mandated duties, prevent waste, fraud and abuse, or follow federal law.
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AFGE Local 252 