POLITICO

The stumbles of an early Trump administration experiment to carve up the Education Department risks undercutting the president’s more dramatic demolition plan for the agency. The Labor Department began taking control of federal career, technical, and adult education money as part of a pact this spring with the education agency that was intended to centralize and streamline government workforce programs. Critics say a combination of technical problems, communication lapses, bureaucratic hurdles, and scant preparation related to new grant payment systems snarled the process of distributing money from a $1.4 billion program for career and technical education initiatives for schools and local governments. The record-breaking government shutdown didn’t help, either. Now state education leaders, Democratic lawmakers, and former Biden administration officials say recent issues with distributing funds are likely a preview of bigger problems that could unfold when the Trump administration starts to outsource more of the Education Department’s work to other agencies.