WASHINGTON — Duties once carried out by the Department of Education will be handled by the Small Business Administration and Department of Health and Human Services, President Trump revealed Friday after ordering the DOE to begin winding down operations.
“I’ve decided that the SBA, the Small Business Administration headed by Kelly Loeffler, terrific person, will handle all of the student loan portfolio,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, referring to the $1.6 trillion in federally backed loans currently under the DOE’s purview.
That responsibility will be transferred to the SBA “immediately,” Trump added. “They’re all set for it.”
HHS, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will be in charge of “[funding for] special needs [students] and all the nutrition programs and everything else,” the president went on.
The DOE’s other current responsibilities include helping enforce civil rights law and conducting research on education best practices, as well as developing regular assessments of student performance dubbed “The Nation’s Report Card.”
Trump’s Thursday mandate ordered Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take all necessary legal measures to shut down the department short of completely dismantling it, which will require congressional approval.
“After 45 years, the United States spends more money on education by far than any other country, and spends, likewise by far, more money per pupil than any country, and it’s not even close, but yet we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success,” Trump said at the White House Thursday.
Many of the department’s functions will be sent “back to the states,” the president added, apart from those he specified Friday.
The transfer of student loan oversight to the SBA is not meant to disrupt loan repayments.
Meanwhile, the SBA announced Friday it will reduce its workforce by 43%, “ending the expansive social policy agenda of the prior Administration, eliminating non-essential roles, and returning to pre-pandemic staffing levels.”
