President Donald Trump says responsibility for certain programs currently overseen by the Department of Education will shift to other agencies, as the administration works to close the department.
In an Oval Office conference Friday, President Trump said student loans will be moved under the Small Business Administration, while nutrition and special needs programs for students would shift to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Loans would "be serviced much better than it has in the past," President Trump said.
The changes come as President Trump seeks to deliver on a longtime Republican goal to shutter the Department of Education.
President Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing the Secretary of Education, billionaire Linda McMahon, "to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities."
"We're going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible. It's doing us no good," he said to a crowd gathered at the White House on Thursday, which included young children, administration officials and governors. "We're going to be returning education, very simply, back to the states where it belongs ... it's a common sense thing to do, and it's going to work."
Closing the Department of Education requires an act of Congress, which first established the department in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter.
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The Small Business Administration, meanwhile, is now forecast to cut about 43% of its workforce.
SBA administrator Kelly Loeffler says the agency will revert to pre-pandemic staffing levels and close some programs that began under the Biden administration.
In addition to the student loans it will now be responsible for, the administration says it will continue to support loan guarantee and disaster assistance programs, as well as support for veterans and the department's field work.
