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

• 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.

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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. 

July 15, 2026

Media contact: Dorie Turner Nolt, dorie.turner@gmail.com, 404-861-1127

Washington, D.C. — This week, Rachel Gittleman, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, which represents current and former employees at the U.S. Department of Education, delivered remarks to members of the House Committee on Education and Workforce about the Trump Administration’s chaotic dismantling of the Department. 

“Scattering programs across six federal agencies doesn’t streamline government; it breaks it. As state and local leaders will tell you, this means more red tape for them, not less,” Gittleman told the committee members. “It also means frustration for the staff that administer these programs, who are steeped in experience, and passion for the work they do.”

Read Gittleman’s full remarks.

Today, the House Education and Workforce Committee will begin marking up a slate of bills aimed at codifying the Trump Administration’s efforts to dismantle the Education Department. Read Gittleman’s statement on those bills. 

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July 14, 2026

Media contacts: 

• AFGE Local 252: Dorie Turner Nolt, dorie.turner@gmail.com, 404-861-1127
• All4Ed: Enrique A. Chaurand, echaurand@all4ed.org, 816-825-1072

Washington, D.C. — A group of former leaders and senior staff in the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office of Career and Technical Education (OCTAE) this week joined with labor union American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252 and national nonprofit All4Ed to formally request an Inspector General investigation into the damage caused by transferring the office to the U.S. Department of Labor (Labor).

The letter sent to Acting Inspector General Mark Priebe asks for a full review of the implementation and effects of the unlawful interagency agreement that moved OCTAE to Labor in the fall of 2025, including looking into:

• Significant delays in $1.4 billion in state grant funding required under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act
• Ongoing challenges for states and grantees that rely on OCTAE for guidance and support 
• Delayed services for the 11 million secondary and postsecondary students and 1.3 million adult learners served by OCTAE-funded career programs
• Full cost of implementing the agreement, both in terms of financial costs and staff resources

“This isn’t efficiency — it’s chaos. 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,” said Rachel Gittleman, president of AFGE Local 252, the employees’ union for the U.S. Department of Education. “Shuffling education programs to other agencies doesn’t make government work better — it breaks it.”

“As the former Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education, I saw firsthand what it takes to build systems that actually work for our nation’s students. OCTAE is effective because it is deeply rooted in our education system and tightly connected to the schools, colleges, and state agencies that serve millions of young people and adult learners,” said All4Ed CEO Amy Loyd, who served in the Biden Administration. “This agreement flies squarely in the face of bipartisan congressional direction that no authority exists for the Department to transfer its fundamental responsibilities to other federal agencies. Lawmakers have been explicit. This administration has simply chosen to ignore them.”    

“We need greater transparency about how this arrangement is impacting the effectiveness and integrity of federal programs that are relied on by millions of people to gain the skills they need to be successful and to be able to support themselves and their families,” said Brenda Dann-Messier, who led OCTAE in the Obama Administration. “States and adult education providers look to the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education for high-quality professional development and technical assistance to strengthen instruction in reading, math, English language acquisition, and digital literacy. Who, if anyone, is providing that expert leadership today?”

Other former OCTAE officials who signed the letter to the Inspector General include:

• Luke Rhine, Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary, OCTAE (2022-2025)

• Johan Uvin, Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary, OCTAE (2010-2017)
• Braden Goetz, Director of Policy, Research, and Evaluation Staff, OCTAE (2013-2024)
• Mark Mitsui, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges, OCTAE (2013-2016)
• Lul Tesfai, Senior Policy Advisor and Director of Policy, OCTAE (2014-2016)

The OCTAE transfer is the first of 14 such interagency agreements that Education Secretary Linda McMahon has signed in the last year with six different federal agencies, effectively dismantling her own Department — despite Congress telling her she does not have the authority to do so, as well as multiple complaints and grievances filed by AFGE Local 252 and litigation brought by 21 attorneys general and other federal labor unions. 

So far, the ED’s Inspector General has issued two reports showing that due to McMahon’s actions, including the unlawful mass firing or forced retirement of nearly half of ED’s staff in 2025, her agency can no longer fulfill its congressionally mandated duties, prevent waste, fraud and abuse, or follow federal law:

• Review of U.S. Department of Education Changes in Staffing and Operations (June 2026)
• Fiscal Year 2026 Management Challenges Facing the U.S. Department of Education (January 2026)

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 the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of State, and the 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 Department of the Treasury. ED leadership has said they intend to continue these agreements indefinitely.

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About AFGE Local 252

The American Federation of Government Employees Local 252 is the labor union representing 2,000 dedicated public servants at the U.S. Department of Education employees—fired, retired, and still fighting. 

About All4Ed 

All4Ed is a national nonprofit advocacy organization committed to expanding equitable educational opportunities for students of color, from low-income families, and other marginalized groups. From the classroom to Congress, All4Ed advances educational transformation by championing policies and practices that ensure all students graduate prepared for college, career, and life.

Media contact: Dorie Turner Nolt, dorie.turner@gmail.com, 404-861-1127

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, which represents 2,000 U.S. Department of Education current, unlawfully terminated, and retired employees, released the following statement from AFGE Local 252 President Rachel Gittleman about a slate of newly proposed federal legislation from the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee:

“These bills are named ‘less bureaucracy,’ but they actually create many more layers of red tape for the American public and for federal employees trying to serve students and families. States, grantees and taxpayers are already paying the price for education programs being unlawfully transferred to other federal agencies: funding delays, confusion and chaos for both employees and the public, wasted taxpayer dollars, and no accountability or oversight. This new legislation will not make the system more efficient — it will break it.”

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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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June 26, 2026

Media contact: Dorie Turner Nolt, dorie.turner@gmail.com, 404-861-1127

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, which represents more than 2,000 U.S. Department of Education current, unlawfully terminated, and retired employees, released the following statement from AFGE Local 252 President Rachel Gittleman about a proposed Office of Personnel Management rule on nondisclosure agreements for government workers:

“As part of an ongoing effort to silence and intimidate public servants, the Trump Administration is proposing requiring all federal employees to sign nondisclosure agreements about their work. This rule is not only entirely unnecessary based on longstanding confidentiality requirements for federal workers, it will also cause a chilling effect on employees reporting waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars at their agencies — a protected right that is more important than ever given the continued dismantling of the U.S. Education Department. The Trump Administration is not trying to protect matters of national security with this rule — they simply want to stop workers from telling the public about the administration’s unlawful and destructive policies across the federal government. We will continue to fight to hold this Administration accountable and to stand with the hardworking public servants who show up every day to ensure every student in America is treated with dignity, fairness, and respect.”

You can read the official comment that AFGE Local 252 submitted to OPM here.

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June 23, 2026

Media contact: Dorie Turner Nolt, dorie.turner@gmail.com, 404-861-1127

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, which represents 2,000 U.S. Department of Education current, unlawfully terminated, and retired employees, released the following statement from AFGE Local 252 President Rachel Gittleman about a new report from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General on the changes in staffing and operations at the agency since January 2025:

“This confirms what we’ve been saying all along: The Trump Administration has been systematically destroying the Education Department. The courts agree, Congress agrees, and now the agency’s own Inspector General gives the public the fullest picture to date of the devastation Education Secretary Linda McMahon has wrought: the massive staff cuts, the programmatic eliminations, the billions in grant funding slashed from programs that serve students, families, and teachers across the country. The Inspector General makes clear that the Department can no longer do its job — it cannot fulfill its congressionally mandated duties, prevent waste, fraud, and abuse, or follow federal law.

“What’s more, the list of cuts makes the story even clearer: The Secretary gutted the Department’s programs helping historically underserved students, but she kept the entire legislative affairs office so someone was available to peddle lies to Congress that everything is fine. Let me be clear: Nothing is fine, and this report proves it.”

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