Some Senate Dems Ask GAO to Investigate ED Dismantling

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As Education Department staff working on higher education grant programs are starting to move their work to the Department of Labor, a group of mostly Senate Democrats wants a government watchdog to investigate the agreements that outsourced those programs.

The Education Department first reached an agreement with Labor in May to transfer the career and technical education and learning grants. And then ED followed up in November with several with more agreements that outsourced the administration of dozen of programs to other federal agencies.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a vocal critic of the Trump administration, led the letter to GAO. It was also signed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent who is the ranking member on the Senate education committee, as well as two appropriators, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.

The senators requested a comprehensive investigation from the Government Accountability Office about the impacts of the first agreement with Labor concerning career and technical education. They also want GAO to look into “the planning, implementation, and impact” of the six other agreements. Among other more specifics, the senators want to know how much the agreements have cost to carry out and if the transfer disrupted funding to states or grantees.

“We are deeply concerned that the administration’s decisions to implement CTE and adult education grant programs in this manner delayed crucial funding that millions of students and schools rely on, created administrative inefficiencies, increased the cost of program administration, and compromised the quality of technical assistance provided to states and grantees,” they wrote in a letter to GAO.