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DOGE Targets Education Contracts: What K-12 Leaders Need to Know
The education landscape is facing significant shifts as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with shrinking the government, is abruptly terminating contracts held by the U.S. Department of Education with numerous vendors and organizations. This move, driven by the Trump administration’s focus on eliminating the Department of Education, has raised concerns about the long-term effects on K-12 education.
DOGE’s actions are specifically targeting federal projects and research. Many of the reductions impact the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the research arm of the department responsible for overseeing longstanding programs like the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which monitors student performance nationwide.
However, the impact extends beyond IES. Contract terminations have also affected other offices within the education department, including the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), Federal Student Aid (FSA), Office of Finance and Operations (OFO), Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE), and the Office of the General Counsel (OGC). These cuts have the potential to affect areas such as oversight of federal student aid, support for migrant student information exchange, and access to data analysis tools.
The abrupt cancellation of these projects could be particularly impactful for the education sector. School districts and vendors may lose access to crucial national data, guidelines, and scientific research that they rely on for selecting and developing high-quality educational products. Some impacted organizations are already responding with layoffs and furloughs.
As of April 11, an EdWeek Market Brief analysis reported that 52 organizations have seen their contracts with the U.S. Department of Education’s research arm cancelled by DOGE.
Understanding the full financial impact of these cuts is proving difficult. DOGE’s savings tracking on its “wall of receipts” webpage has been criticized as incomplete and, in some cases, inaccurate, with factual inconsistencies identified. EdWeek Market Brief‘s initial review even found instances where the reported savings exceeded the listed total contract value. Furthermore, the listed savings as of March 5 did not align with the total savings claimed by DOGE in February.
Adding another layer of complexity, some of these contract cancellations face legal questions because they were created under congressional mandates or in response to lawmakers’ requests. Impacted organizations anticipate needing to re-bid for the work if projects are resurrected in the future.
Stay informed as this situation continues to develop and reshape the landscape of K-12 education.
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