What will DOGE target next? Musk looks to the Education Department.
A top official said Musk’s team is reviewing its operations, according to two Education Department employees, who also said the agency is planning to place greater priority on curbing antisemitism.
WASHINGTON – Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s quasi-government agency has caused uproar across the federal workforce in a matter of weeks, and the tumult is far from over.
Amid takeovers of the U.S. government’s main human resources and foreign aid arms, his task force has begun probing the primary federal agency overseeing American schools, too.
A top U.S. Department of Education official confirmed to employees during a virtual meeting Tuesday that the team working for the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has been reviewing the agency’s operations, according to two staffers on the call who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it.
Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary in the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, said the DOGE team has been working at the department to implement President Donald Trump’s agenda, the staffers said. He did not say how many DOGE employees were probing the agency, and he didn't elaborate on what changes they hope to make or what kind of access they have to internal systems.
During the meeting, Trainor, a new political appointee, introduced himself to the civil rights division, which is in charge of enforcing antidiscrimination laws on most school and college campuses. Just weeks after the Trump administration selected him for the role, the office’s direction has taken a sharp rightward turn from its work during the Biden years: It has halted all investigations related to book bans, opened a probe into a high school in Denver that created a gender-neutral restroom, and ordered schools across the country to be less LGBTQ-inclusive when enforcing sex discrimination laws.
Droves of employees have been put on paid administrative leave because of the president’s executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion in the federal government, according to their union, the American Federation of Government Employees.
According to the people on Tuesday's call, which was first reported by The New York Times, Trainor also said that the Office for Civil Rights will use its limited resources to prioritize discrimination complaints related to antisemitism on school campuses.
The Education Department did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday about DOGE and Trainor’s remarks.
Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for Paste BN. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.