Department of Education
A DOGE delegation arrived at the Department of Education only a week after the Inauguration, and in early February there were reports of up to 10 DOGE staffers embedded within the agency and feeding data to an AI system for analysis. DOGE’s primary mission at the Department of Education is to support the administration’s goal of eliminating the agency without needing approval from Congress. DOGE has contributed both its antipersonnel practicea and a tight control over spending, axing many key contracts in February for assessing the performance of American schools. These efforts have met some resistance in the courts, but DOGE is very much embedded in the Trump administration’s war on education.
Positions
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Systems
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| System | Access |
|---|---|
| FMS |
Source
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Events
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| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2/03 Education |
Source
Sighting:
Twenty DOGE staff are reportedly sighted within the Department of Education and “have gained access to multiple sensitive internal systems, including a financial aid dataset that contains the personal information for millions of students enrolled in the federal student aid program.”
(fuzz: this number and scope is not verified by court filings, subsequent reporting)
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| c.2/04 Education |
Source
Disruption:
The head of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) meets with multiple DOGE personnel with her main point of contact being Conor Fennessy. She describes the interactions with DOGE as chaotic and unclear, with many of their requests being filtered down thorugh multiple layers of leadership.
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| 2/05 Education |
Source
Official:
Thomas Flagg, the CIO of the Dept. of Education, sends a memo to the heads of IT that orders them to give DOGE staff prompt access to all systems that they request.
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| 2/06 Education |
Source
Access:
The Washington Post reports that DOGE is feeding Department of Education data into an unidentified AI system hosted in Microsoft Azure.
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| 2/08 Education |
Source
Access:
NBC News reports that Akash Bobba and Ethan Shaotran have admin access to email at the Department of Education and had also accessed the backend admin for the agency website.
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| 2/11 Education |
Source
Legal:
In a court filing, the Department of Education submitted to a consent decree blocking DOGE from access to systems for processing student financial aid.
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| 2/13 Education |
Source
Directory:
A story on a proposal to use AI at the Department of Education lists several DOGE staffers identified there within the last few weeks.
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| 2/14 Education |
Source
Disruption:
After a conservative account complained to Musk on Twitter about gender options on the FAFSA form, it was changed the same day. Reportedly, this change was already on the roadmap, but multiple contractors were called in to rush it as an emergency job.
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| 2/18 Education |
Source
Legal:
A federal judge denied an attempt by American Federation of Teachers et al v. Bessent et al (D. Md.) to block DOGE from accessing Department of Education systems related to financial aid.
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| 2/24 Education |
Source
Disruption:
The head of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is placed on administrative leave and eventually dismissed. She is replaced in the position by Chris Chapman, who is subsequently fired in mass layoffs on March 11th. The agency was leaderless until July 7, when it was added as additional responosibilities for another executive in the Department of Education.
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| 2/24 Education |
Source
Legal:
In a ruling for American Federation of Teachers et al v. Bessent et al (D. Md.), a judge declared “DOGE affiliates have been granted access to systems of record that contain some of the plaintiffs’ most sensitive data - Social Security numbers, dates of birth, home addresses, income and assets, citizenship status, and disability status - and their access to this trove of personal information is ongoing”
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| March 2025 | |
| 3/01 DHS, DOL, Education, OPM, SSA, Treasury |
Source
Report:
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) starts an audit of how DOGE has handled data at several agencies.
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| 3/24 Education |
Source
Legal:
Ruling in American Federation of Teachers et al v. Bessent et al, Judge Boardman issues a preliminary injunction against to internal systems at the Departoment of Education by DOGE staff and the Acting Secretary where the justification for access was “the DOGE agenda” (i.e., all of them)
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| April 2025 | |
| 4/07 Education, OPM, Treasury |
Source
Legal:
In a 2-1 vote, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a stay against DOGE data access at the Treasury, OPM and Department of Education imposed in the case American Federation of Teachers v. Bessent et al.
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| 4/11 Commerce, DOD, DOJ, DOL, DOT, EPA, Education, DOE, HHS, HUD, NARA, NASA, NEH, NSF, SBA, State, USDA, VA |
Source
Disruption:
Luke Farritor uses his admin access to lock out all government officials at multiple agencies from using grants.gov to issue new grants. Instead, all grants must now be sent to a new email address which will be reviewed by DOGE staffers before grants can be posted.
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| 4/12 CFPB, Education, HHS |
Source
Interagency:
Emailing this time from his CFPB account, Jeremy Lewin shares the documentation for the upcoming CFPB RIF with DOGE staff posted at several agencies (Zach Terrell and Alexandra Beynon). He also includes DOGE staff at CFPB: Gavin Kliger, Chris Young and Jordan Wick. It’s unclear if they are representing their individual agencies or are just taking part as DOGE members in the conversation.
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| May 2025 | |
| 5/12 DOD, Education, DOE, GSA, HUD |
Source
Disruption:
In a retaliation against the university coordinated by GSA, grants for Harvard University from DOD, HUD, the Department of Energy and the Department of Education are all terminated. There were 200 grants from DOD alone. The stated reasons varied but included that they no longer effectuated the administration’s priorities or directly accusing Harvard of fostering antisemitism on campus.
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| 5/16 Education |
Source
Disruption:
GOP proposals that would cut student loans and increase debt collection would require new technical capacity and policy that the Department of Education is unlikely to accomplish after many recent cuts and the elimination of technical staff by DOGE.
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| June 2025 | |
| 6/09 Education |
Source
Oversight:
Senator Elizabeth Warren sends a letter to the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Education urging them to investigate DOGE’s “infiltration” of systems and databases related to the Federal Student Aid (FSA) program.
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| 6/26 Commerce, DOD, DOJ, DOL, DOT, EPA, Education, DOE, HHS, HUD, NARA, NASA, NEH, NSF, SBA, State, USDA, VA |
Source
Official:
In an email to agency partners, the operators of grants.gov declare that the revised mechanism added in April that routed all Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) through a DOGE email address has been reversed. Instead, agencies are to return to using the tool like that did previously. This doesn’t necessarily mean that DOGE or political appointees will not be reviewing grants, but they have no longer locked other users out of the system.
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| August 2025 | |
| 8/12 Education, IRS, OPM, Treasury |
Source
Legal:
Citing a Supreme Court shadow docket ruling as precedent, a DC Appeals Court overturned a stay from February and ordered that DOGE should be allowed to access sensitive data at the Treasury Department, OPM and Department of Education.
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| September 2025 | |
| 9/10 Education |
Source
Report:
A report on the Secretary of Education’s visit to an AI-powered private school in Austin named the Alpha School includes a profile and picture of two students whose father is identified as Brooks Morgan. This is likely the same Brooks Morgan who has been working at the Department of Education for DOGE.
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| 9/19 Education |
Source
Oversight:
The Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Education confirms that it will be launching an investigation into DOGE’s access to sensitive systems at the agency.
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Questions
- Is it true that Adam Ramada accessed only one system at the Department of Education and only for a single day?
In sworn testimony, an employee at the Department of Education affirmed that Adam Ramada was the only person from DOGE with system access, that he was only granted access to the FMS system, and that he only used that access once