US Education Dept to leave current headquarters as dismantling continues under Trump

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration said on Thursday the U.S. Education Department will leave its headquarters in Washington and relocate to a smaller office in the U.S. capital as the government continues efforts to dismantle the agency.

"The U.S. Department of Education will move out of the Lyndon B. Johnson headquarters building," the Trump administration said, adding the Education Department headquarters building has been 70% vacant.

"The U.S. Department of Energy will move out of its outdated James V. Forrestal building and assume the lease on the Lyndon B. Johnson building," the joint statement from the Education and Energy Departments added.

The federal government cast its actions as a cost-saving move. It said the Energy Department's move to the Education Department headquarters will save taxpayers over $350 million in deferred maintenance costs.

Trump promised during his 2024 election campaign to dismantle the Education Department as part of a bid to shrink the federal ​government's role in education in favor of more control by the ​states. The Trump administration has gutted staffing at the agency.

Late last year, the Education Department announced new partnerships with ⁠four other federal departments - Labor, State, Interior and Health and Human ​Services - to share or transfer some of the functions it performed.

Last week, the Trump administration said the Education Department was handing off a portion of its student loan ​portfolio to the Treasury Department.