DOGE illegally slashes $1B in research contracts at Department of Education

The Department of Government Efficiency has struck again with the announcement yesterday that the U.S. Department of Education has terminated nearly $1 billion in research contracts.

The termination of the contracts depletes the federal government of vital data sources on American schools and decimates the DOE’s research division.

“We don’t want consumers to have more information about buying the best blender than they do about attending an institution of higher education,” Michael Itzkowitz, who oversaw the creation of the College Scorecard, said. He added that the cuts could endanger America‘s global competitiveness.

The DOGE, X owner Elon Musk‘s pseudo-government agency, announced the termination on social media of 89 contracts totaling $881 million. The DOGE also posted that the agency canceled 29 “DEI training grants” totaling $101 million.

The elimination of the contracts halted the work of the Institute of Education Sciences, which is gathers information about students and schools across the nation.

USA Today reports that the scope of the changes intended by DOGE may be larger than publicly revealed, per an internal memo from an Institute of Education Sciences employee obtained by USA Today.

Nearly all of the institute’s work ended with the elimination of 169 research contracts and institute employees expect to receive notices of leave from employment soon. The memo stated that the DOGE team did not consider the legality of the cost cutting.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress was saved, as well as the College Scorecard, a tool implemented when Barack Obama was president to use information about universities to help students decide where to attend college. College Navigator was also saved.

However, What Works Clearinghouse, which helped school administrators and educators make decisions was not saved. The School Pulse Panel was also not saved. The program surveyed public K-12 schools on education-related topics during the 2021-2022 school year.

Also possibly on the list to cut are studies about international education, career and technical education and early childhood education.

DOE staff members have been placed on paid leave after President Donald Trump‘s executive order to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in American government.