By Bo Erickson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration is advancing its plan to dismantle the Department of Education and is using non-disclosure agreements to shield official discussions with the administration, according to four people familiar with the changes.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon this week announced plans for most federal education programs and staff to relocate to six other federal agencies, like the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services.
But the full scope of logistics and timing remains unclear to the public, education advocates, and Congress, which oversees and funds the department.
The reorganization marks a significant step toward a long-standing conservative goal, but the non-disclosure agreements for senior officials and directors are unusual for the department with no national security role, according to two people familiar with the strategy.
It is unclear how widely the agency has used NDAs, or if they have been used in a similar way before. One person familiar with them said the goal was to prevent information sharing outside of the department.
A senior Education Department official on Friday said the use of the non-disclosure agreements was in line with business and governmental practices and allowed for deliberative discussions and changes between agencies and their career staff.
TRUMP’S CAMPAIGN PROMISE
Trump promised during his campaign to dismantle the Education Department, and McMahon told senators during her confirmation process that unwinding it would require congressional action.
The secretary on Thursday said she has spoken with dozens of lawmakers about their plans and urged Congress to codify the changes after they are completed.
“Our final mission as a department is to fully empower states to carry the torch of our educational renaissance,” McMahon said at a White House press briefing. “We are not ending federal support for education. We are ending federal micromanagement.”
But other lawmakers say Congress is being left out of the loop.
“There’s a difference between reform and sabotage, and right now we are seeing sabotage,” Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said on Friday about the department reshuffling. “Like everything in this administration, they make a big announcement, they don’t work with all of us, there’s no transparency, they just behind the scenes are doing it.”
McMahon said that some employees are already working within the Labor Department. Other federal education employees are expected to relocate full time to the Labor Department and elsewhere around January, said two people familiar with the plans.
The senior Education Department official said there is no set timeline for future staffing moves.
Officials from the Education and Health departments met this week to discuss timelines and logistics for that department to take over special education support programs.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson; Editing by Scott Malone and Lisa Shumaker)
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