The U.S. Department of Education (ED) remains in a state of flux after nearly two years of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink and restructure it. Since January 2025, ED has signed 14 interagency agreements shifting core functions elsewhere in government, even as Congress remains divided over how much of that restructuring should be authorized by law. Two developments this summer illustrate this tension: the Senate and House are pursuing conflicting legislation over which ED offices can legally be relocated, while the department is simultaneously asking colleges to adopt its policy priorities voluntarily. Separately, ED has opened a public comment period on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking overhauling the federal accreditation system, with responses due September 21.
Senate Committee Pushes Back on Moving Education Department Functions
On July 30, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee advanced a bipartisan bill that would block the administration from shifting the functions and funding of four ED offices — Elementary and Secondary Education, Postsecondary Education, Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, and Indian Education — to other federal agencies. The bill passed 13–9, with Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Susan Collins (ME) joining committee Democrats. An amendment to extend similar protection to the Office for Civil Rights was tabled, and a broader amendment covering all ED offices was rejected.
The vote puts the Senate on a different path than the House Education and Workforce Committee, which recently advanced partisan legislation to permanently relocate ten ED offices (not including Special Education and Rehabilitative Services) to other agencies. Any binding legislation would require a full House vote and bipartisan support in the Senate.
ED Asks Colleges to Publish Their Own Statements of Principle
On August 3, Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to leaders of all U.S. institutions of higher education asking each to publish — or update — public statements of principle and declarations of purpose by the end of 2026. The request, called “A National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards,” asks institutions to address seven areas:
- Transparency and merit in admissions
- Protection of free speech and open inquiry
- Intellectual pluralism in hiring and research
- College affordability and student outcomes
- Academic rigor in the age of AI
- Safeguards against foreign influence on research
- How the institution will advance national interests
Unlike the administration’s October 2025 “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” — which proposed specific policy commitments tied to federal funding and was declined by most invited institutions — this new request from Secretary McMahon is voluntary and lists no stated consequences for non-response. In her letter, McMahon acknowledges that there is “no single template for academic excellence.”
