August 3, 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, is denouncing the agency for unlawfully moving another 64 employees from K-12, special education, higher education and career, technical and adult education programs to other federal departments as part of an ongoing effort to dismantle the Education Department.
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 — Education Secretary Linda McMahon is transferring 10 Native education workers from multiple offices to the U.S. Department of the Interior. McMahon is also moving two postsecondary education employees to the U.S. Department of State and another 52 workers in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and Office of Postsecondary Education to the Labor Department.
“These interagency agreements are the opposite of efficiency — they are chaos. The agreements create unnecessary, additional layers of bureaucracy for students, families and taxpayers and make it harder for federal workers to do their jobs on behalf of the public,” said Rachel Gittleman, president of AFGE Local 252. “Students and families are already paying the price: funding delays, confusion for both employees and the public, wasted taxpayer dollars, and no accountability or oversight.”
These moves come on the heels of McMahon unlawfully transferring about 60 workers to the Labor Department and Health and Human Services in late June as part of 14 interagency agreements that scatter education programs unlawfully across six federal agencies with no expertise in education or experience serving students and families. The transfers come as the Department’s Inspector General warns that the Education Department can no longer fulfill its congressionally mandated duties, prevent waste, fraud and abuse, or follow federal law after McMahon fired or forced out nearly half of the Department’s staff last year.
In 2025, McMahon fully eliminated two divisions, the Office of English Language Acquisition and the International and Foreign Language Education office, that are moving to other agencies. Since then, the work of those offices has been unlawfully assigned to remaining staff at the Education Department and it is unclear whether that work will continue at the new agencies.
The divisions that will move to the Labor Department (full descriptions can be found here):
- Division of State Support & Accountability
- Title I, Part B: Improving Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged formula grant program
- Title I, Part A: Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Educational Agencies
- Title I, Part B: Improving Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged—State Assessment Grants program
- Title I, Part D: Prevention and Intervention Programs for Children and Youth Who are Neglected, Delinquent or At-Risk
- Title II, Part A: Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program
- Education for Homeless Children and Youths
- Title III, Part A: English Language Acquisition State Grants formula grant program
- Title IV, Part A: Student Support and Academic Enrichment program
- Title IV, Part B: 21st Century Community Learning Centers program
- Division of Rural and School Improvement Programs
- Title V: Small, Rural School Achievement program
- Rural and Low Income School program
- Division of Impact Aid Programs
- Impact Aid Program (including Impact Aid Section 7002 – Payments for Federal Property, Impact Aid Section 7003 – Payments for Federally Connected Children, Impact Aid Section 7007(b) – Competitive Construction Grants, and Impact Aid Section 7008 – Facilities Maintenance)
- Office of Migrant Education
- Title I, Part C: Education of Migratory Children formula grant program
- High School Equivalency program
- College Assistance Migrant program
- Office of State and Grantee Support Services
- Division of Efficiency, Data Quality, and Special Projects
The divisions that will move to the State Department (full descriptions can be found here):
- International and Foreign Language Education (fully eliminated in 2025 and work unlawfully reassigned to remaining staff)
- American Overseas Research Centers program
- Business and International Education program
- Centers for International Business Education program
- Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships Program
- International Research and Studies program
- Language Resource Centers program
- National Resource Centers program
- Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language program
- Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowships program
- Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad fellowships program
- Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad program
- Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad program
The divisions that will move to the Interior Department (full descriptions can be found here):
- Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) Programs:
- Office of Indian Education (Formula Grants, Discretionary Grants, and School Improvement Programs)
- American Indian Education Formula Grants
- Alaska Native Education program
- Native Hawaiian Education program
- State-Tribal Education Partnership program
- Native American and Alaska Native Language Program
- Native American Language Resource Center programs
- The following programs are included on the interagency agreement, but not listed on the fact sheet, which notes: “The Department is currently winding down several grant programs that allocate resources based upon the racial or ethnic composition of an institution’s student body, with preferences for students who are Native Alaskan or Native Hawaiian. The IAA includes these programs and DOI will assist ED with providing services to wind down such programs in an orderly manner.”
- Special Programs for Indian Children – Indian Education Professional Development Grant Program
- Special Programs for Indian Children – Demonstration Grants
- Office of Indian Education (Formula Grants, Discretionary Grants, and School Improvement Programs)
- Indian Education Professional Development Grant program
- American Indian children and youth
- American Indian Education National Activities
- Administration of American Rescue Plan – American Indian Resilience in Education
- Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education Programs:
- Tribally Controlled Postsecondary Career and Technical Institutions Program
- The following programs are included on the interagency agreement, but not listed on the fact sheet:
- Native American Career and Technical Education Program
- Native Hawaiian Career and Technical Education Program
- Office of Postsecondary Education:
- American Indian Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (authorized under 20 USC § 1059f, 31 U.S.C. § 1301)
- The following programs are included on the interagency agreement, but not listed on the fact sheet:
- Alaska Native-serving and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions
- Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions
- Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Programs:
- American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Services program
“The Trump Administration continues to unlawfully transfer hundreds of Education Department grant programs — which are worth tens of billions of dollars and support students from cradle to career — to other federal agencies, ignoring clear directions from Congress and the courts,” Gittleman added. “Shuffling education programs to other agencies doesn’t make government work better — it breaks it.”
To date, the fullest interagency moves have been the Office of Career and Technical Education, the Office of Postsecondary Education, and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which are now spread across the Labor Department, Health and Human Services, the State Department and the Interior Department. McMahon has also moved some Federal Student Aid staff to the Treasury Department. Education Department leadership has said they intend to continue these agreements indefinitely.
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 Education programs.
###
The American Federation of Government Employees Local 252 is the labor union representing 2,000 dedicated public orderlies at the U.S. Department of Education employees—fired, retired, and still fighting.
AFGE Local 252 