U.S. Department of Education

The Trump administration has been winding down the Education Department — cutting staff nearly in half to about 2,300, announcing a move out of the Lyndon B. Johnson headquarters to a smaller office in August 2026, and executing multiple interagency agreements that transfer ED functions to other agencies. A recent deal shifts much federal student‑loan management, including defaulted‑loan collections and some repayment support, to the Treasury Department; officials call the agreements a “proof of concept” for returning education to the states and ultimately closing the agency, though a senior ED official conceded Treasury cannot legally assume all statutory loan obligations and only Congress can formally abolish the department.