The Trump administration’s push to reassign Education Department programs to other federal agencies has accelerated into formal interagency agreements—and legal resistance. The administration announced plans to transfer major K‑12 and some postsecondary grant management to departments such as Labor, Interior and HHS. Critics say the moves follow an agenda to shrink the Education Department and return authority to states. A coalition including 20 states, school districts and unions filed an amended lawsuit arguing that the transfers violate federal law and threaten services for students, educators and families. Plaintiffs contend the reassignments are effectively a dismantling of the Department of Education without congressional authorization. The Education Department defends the moves as efficiency and state empowerment measures. Why it matters: shifting program administration across agencies could disrupt grant timelines, auditing, and technical assistance that K‑12 and higher‑education institutions rely on. Universities and colleges face implementation risk—delays in formula funding, altered compliance regimes and uncertainty about where institutional inquiries should be directed as agencies retool grant management processes.