McMahon shifts education programs to Labor, Treasury

Education Secretary Linda McMahon signed interagency agreements reallocating major Department of Education functions to two other agencies, per Fox 5 DC, Fox 5 NY and Fox News accounts dated Oct. 24. Labor takes day-to-day administration of adult education, family literacy, and career and technical education under WIOA and the Perkins Act; Treasury takes federal student loans and collection on defaulted debt. McMahon also said she plans to "fire herself" from the role.

The reported structure is a transfer of operational duties, not elimination of funding or statutory obligations: Education retains statutory responsibilities and oversight while Labor and Treasury absorb administration of the named programs. Neither Fox 5 account identifies individual jobs, offices, or staff reductions. Both trace the same Oct. 24 event, so overlapping details are one story, not independent corroboration.

What the agreements do — and what stays unstated

The transfer runs through interagency agreements, administrative instruments between departments, rather than statute. Claims about efficiency, accountability and taxpayer savings are stated goals, not documented results; one account frames the move as a "proof of concept" showing Congress that federal education functions can be reallocated without student support faltering.

The mechanical gap is unresolved in the supplied reports: who currently performs the work, what staffing moves, and how program continuity is measured. Interagency agreements depend on the receiving agencies' existing authority, capacity and appropriations, none of which the accounts detail. McMahon's assurances about uninterrupted student support are attributed and untested by outcome data or oversight findings.

A disputed precedent, and a separate staffing record

The Reg Review (Aug. 18) argues the executive branch lacks authority to move statutory functions between departments, writing that presidential reorganization authority lapsed at the end of 1984. That analysis concerns a June 16 move of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to HHS and the Office for Civil Rights to DOJ — a different transaction than the October agreements, so it does not directly establish invalidity here. It does show comparable transfers disputed on statutory-authority grounds, with judicial review anticipated, per that account.

Separately, The College Investor (Sept. 24) reports three former Education secretaries — Arne Duncan, John B. King Jr. and Miguel Cardona — asked the Office of Inspector General to investigate costs and impact of 2025 layoffs, citing Office of Personnel Management data showing Federal Student Aid staff falling from 1,440 (Dec. 2024) to 868 (Dec. 2025), 32 FSA suboffices without employees, and a loan-repayment backlog affecting hundreds of thousands of borrowers. Those are civil-service staffing cuts, not transfers of function.

• March 21, 2025: Executive order dismantling the Department of Education, per The College Investor.
• June 16, 2026: Reported move of OSERS to HHS and OCR to DOJ, which The Reg Review calls unauthorized.
• Sept. 24, 2026: Former secretaries request an OIG cost-and-impact investigation.
• Oct. 24, 2026: McMahon signs agreements shifting functions to Labor and Treasury.

Outlook: authority untested, measurement absent

The binding limit is Congressional approval: the reports describe closure of the department as pending that step, placing it as a potential future event. With functions relocated and statutory responsibilities retained, Education remains answerable for programs it no longer runs day to day — and the accounts specify no oversight, reporting lines or performance measurement across the three agencies.

A documented congressional action on the department's status, or an OIG finding on the 2025 layoffs, is the observable test currently missing from the record.

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