The Trump administration took another significant step this week toward dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, announcing a sweeping transfer of many of its responsibilities to other federal agencies.

On Tuesday, the department unveiled a new set of interagency agreements with six federal agencies — including the Departments of Labor, Interior, Health and Human Services, and State — which will now assume oversight of a wide range of education-related programs. In announcing the shift, McMahon framed the effort as the culmination of a mission that Republicans have been pursuing for decades: reduce the federal role in schooling and “return education to the states.”

“Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission,” McMahon said in a statement. “Together, we will refocus education on students, families, and schools — ensuring federal taxpayer spending is supporting a world-class education system.”

The partnerships outline a dramatic redistribution of responsibilities. The Department of Labor will now play a key role in overseeing elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education programs with workforce links. The Department of the Interior will take on Native American education initiatives. Health and Human Services will oversee foreign medical school accreditation. And the State Department will assume international education and foreign language studies programs.

In its announcement, the Education Department described the shift as a “streamlining” operation that eliminates “federal education bureaucracy” and reduces administrative burdens. But the moves also come just months after Trump signed an executive order directing the administration to dismantle the department — an order that sidestepped the traditional requirement for congressional approval to shut down a federal agency.

McMahon has not hidden her enthusiasm for the project. On Monday, she posted a video on X featuring Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and other Republican figures discussing past efforts to eliminate the department. The video ended with the phrase: “The final mission.” For critics, that phrase has become a rallying cry — and a warning.

Education policy analysts note that while the federal government does not control curriculum, it plays a crucial role in civil rights enforcement, student aid, and oversight of vulnerable populations — areas that do not easily transfer across agencies with competing priorities.

For McMahon, however, Tuesday’s announcement reflects a larger ideological shift: a vision of a federal government that retreats from education altogether, leaving states — and now other federal agencies — to determine how support, funding, and accountability should work.