The Trump administration on Tuesday made a big move forward in its effort to effectivly dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, announcing the agency will transfer a lot of its workload to other federal departments.

The new partnerships with the Labor, Interior, Health and Human Services, and State departments will help streamline and consolidate a lot of bureaucracy and red tape, the Education Department announced in a news release.

“By partnering with agencies that are best positioned to deliver results for students and taxpayers, these [interagency agreements] will streamline federal education activities on the legally required programs, reduce administrative burdens, and refocus programs and activities to better serve students and grantees,” the release stated.

“A senior department official, speaking on background, explained that the Education Department would still set policy for the programs, but the other departments would carry out operations. Education Department staff who work on the programs would remain in their roles, according to the department official,” the Chronicle of Higher Education reported.

The Department of the Interior is slated to take on Indian Education programs, while foreign medical accreditation will be handled by the Department of Health and Human Services, and international education and foreign-language-studies programs overseen by the State Department.

The Department of Labor is expected to take on most of the reassigned duties, officials announced.

Oversight of the massive amounts of Title I funding for the education of low-income children, migrant students, and neglected or at-risk youth will be transferred to the Labor Department, which will send that money to states, according to Politico.

Civil rights work and federal student loan and grant programs will remain with the Education Department for now, it added.

“But administration officials did not rule out future efforts to move special education, civil rights and student loans to other agencies during private briefings Tuesday, though they said no agreements on those programs have yet been signed,” Politico reported.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Tuesday posted on X: “My top priority is to fulfill @POTUS’ mission to return education to the states. Our partnerships mark a major step toward restoring local control and delivering better outcomes for our students.”

Republicans and conservatives were quick to praise the development.

“Today’s move is exactly what this Administration has said it would do: disrupt a federal system that hasn’t worked for students in decades,” said Jeanne Allen, CEO of the Center for Education Reform, in a statement.

“It won’t be seamless, and it won’t succeed unless the new agencies clearly communicate with states, communities, and parents about their new flexibility — how funds can be better spent, and how to avoid getting snared in fresh compliance traps. But shifting power closer to communities is the right direction.”

But Democrats and progressives said the moves may overstep the legal limits of downsizing the Education Department and will hurt students and families.

“The law is clear: only Congress can dismantle the Department of Education. In its 45-year history, the U.S. Department of Education has played an essential role in ensuring all students — particularly those traditionally underserved by America’s schools — are guaranteed their rights to a quality public education, free from discrimination,” the left-leaning EdTrust said in a statement.

“These new directives only serve to further distance students — particularly students of color, those from low-income backgrounds, students with disabilities, and multilingual learners — from educational opportunities. The other agencies that are now charged with protecting students’ educational civil rights simply do not have the relationships, expertise, or staff capacity to do so,” the group added.

Neal Hutchens, a professor in the department of educational-policy studies at the University of Kentucky, told the Chronicle the plan will likely face legal challenges: “I don’t think we have previously seen such a unilateral effort by the executive branch to dismantle a cabinet-level agency.”

The latest moves continue a trend begun earlier this year by the Trump administration to shrink the Education Department, including laying off 1,300 employees as well as accepting hundreds of resignations and buyouts.