McMahon Says "Clock Is Ticking" on Education Department

"The secretary posted an ominous video of a ticking clock followed by President Ronald Reagan urging Congress to dissolve the Department of Education. The video ended with a flickering screen that read, "The Final Mission," an echo of her first letter to Education Department staff, in which she outlined how she would put herself out of a job. All the post itself said was "The clock is ticking ...""

"McMahon is expected to sign multiple interagency agreements at 2 p.m. Tuesday that could ship the responsibilities of key offices including Civil Rights, Postsecondary Education, Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, and Elementary and Secondary Education off to other departments, according to multiple sources familiar with the talks. However, it remains unclear which offices and programs will be offloaded to which agencies-or how many offices will ultimately be moved."

"Some plans for dismantling the Education Department called for moving OCR to the Department of Justice and having the Health and Human Services take over some special ed services. A department spokesperson told The Washington Post, which also reported Tuesday on the plans, that some details about the agreements were wrong but didn't provide more information. Inside Higher Ed has not heard back from the department."

Linda McMahon signaled plans to move forward on dismantling the Department of Education by transferring major program responsibilities to other agencies. She posted a video invoking Reagan and the phrase "The Final Mission," and is expected to sign multiple interagency agreements that could reassign offices including Civil Rights, Postsecondary Education, Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, and Elementary and Secondary Education. Reports name possible transfers such as OCR to the Justice Department and some special education services to Health and Human Services. The department previously moved Career, Technical and Adult Education to Labor as a test run. McMahon has acknowledged that only Congress can fully dissolve the department.

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