Bipartisan House bill aims to stop outsourcing of some Education Department offices

两党众议院法案旨在阻止教育部部分办公室的外包行为

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潜水简介：

A bipartisan bill introduced in the House on Wednesday seeks to prevent the transfer of four U.S. Department of Education offices to other federal agencies. Those Education Department offices lead activities for special education, postsecondary education, Native American education, and elementary and secondary education.

众议院于周三提交了一份两党联合议案，希望不让美国教育部的四个业务处室被划归其他联邦政府机构。这四个处室分管特殊教育、高等教育、美国原住民教育以及中小学教育事务。

The bill — introduced by Reps. John Mannion, D-N.Y., Bobby Scott, D-Va., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. — is companion legislation to a Senate bill that currently awaits a full vote.

该法案由众议员约翰·曼尼恩（纽约州民主党）、鲍比·斯科特（弗吉尼亚州民主党）和布赖恩·菲茨帕特里克（宾夕法尼亚州共和党）共同提出，是参议院一项目前尚待全体表决的法案的配套立法。

The Education Department under the Trump administration has a total of 14 interagency agreements with six other federal agencies to offload many K-12 and higher education responsibilities. The administration has said the agreements will break up federal bureaucracy, but critics say they add confusion and prevent cohesion among the offices being outsourced.

特朗普政府下的教育部与六个其他联邦机构共签订了14项跨部门协议，以将许多K-12及高等教育职责下放。政府表示，这些协议将打破联邦官僚体系的僵化，但批评人士认为，它们反而增加了混乱，并阻碍了被外包部门之间的协调一致。

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潜水洞察：

In a joint statement issued Thursday, Mannion, Scott and Fitzpatrick said their bill seeks to prevent the four offices' transfers to agencies that "lack the staff, experience, and expertise needed to administer them."

在周四发表的一份联合声明中，曼尼恩、斯科特和菲茨帕特里克表示，他们的法案旨在防止这四个办公室被转移到“缺乏管理它们所需的人员、经验和专业知识”的机构。

In the statement, Fitzpatrick said, "The families I represent should never have to wonder whether a federal reorganization will cost their child a service, a protection, or an opportunity."

在声明中，菲茨帕特里克表示：“我所代表的那些家庭永远不应担心联邦重组会让他们孩子的服务、保护或机会受到影响。”

Fitzpatrick said that when constituents raised concerns about moving the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services out of the Education Department, he "took those concerns directly to the Administration and demanded answers about how it would protect IDEA [the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act], preserve critical resources, and prevent disruption for students."

菲茨帕特里克表示，当选民对将特殊教育与康复服务办公室迁出教育部一事提出担忧时，他“直接向政府反映了这些关切，并要求就如何保护《残疾人教育法》（IDEA）、保留关键资源以及避免对学生造成干扰等问题作出说明。”

Chad Rummel, CEO of the Council for Exceptional Children, praised the House bill in a Thursday statement. "Transferring special education to the Department of Health and Human Services is misguided — it segregates special education from other education programs and jeopardizes the rights of students with disabilities."

查德·鲁梅尔，特殊儿童理事会的首席执行官，在周四的一份声明中称赞了众议院的法案。“将特殊教育移交至卫生与公众服务部是错误的——这会把特殊教育与其他教育项目割裂开来，并危及残疾学生的权利。”

The House bill was referred to the Education and Workforce Committee for consideration.

众议院法案已被提交至教育与劳动力委员会审议。

The companion bipartisan Senate bill passed that chamber’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in July.

该配套的两党参议院法案已于7月在参议院健康、教育、劳工和养老金委员会获得通过。

Under the interagency agreements, the Education Department retains statutory responsibility for the offices being outsourced, while duties such as grant management, technical assistance and other services are moved to another federal agency.

根据机构间协议，教育部保留对被外包办公室的法定职责，而诸如拨款管理、技术援助及其他服务等职能则转移至另一联邦机构。

Savannah Newhouse, Education Department press secretary, addressed the House bill in an email Thursday: "The era of coddling a failed status quo must end. It is an insult to American families — and downright malpractice — that Washington politicians are rushing to protect a system where roughly 30 percent of our nation’s students are proficient in math and reading. The needs of the system cannot be more important than the needs of the kids."

萨凡纳·纽豪斯，教育部新闻秘书，于周四在一封电子邮件中就众议院法案发表评论：“纵容失败现状的时代必须结束。华盛顿的政客们急于保护一个约有30%的学生在数学和阅读方面达到熟练水平的体系，这不仅是对美国家庭的侮辱，更是彻头彻尾的失职行为。系统的需要绝不能凌驾于孩子们的需求之上。”

Newhouse added that it is "entirely premature to sabotage this effort before it has the chance to eliminate bureaucratic barriers and fully deliver the results that our students, families, and educators deserve."

纽豪斯补充说：“在这一努力尚未有机会消除官僚障碍、充分实现我们的学生、家庭和教育工作者应得的成果之前，就对其进行破坏，完全是为时过早。”

Neither the House or Senate bill addresses the transfer of the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights to the U.S. Department of Justice. Many civil rights and special education advocacy organizations have expressed concerns about the weakening of student civil rights protections and the Justice Department’s capacity to handle K-12 and higher education-specific complaints.

众议院和参议院的法案均未涉及将教育部民权办公室移交至美国司法部一事。许多民权组织和特殊教育倡导机构已对削弱学生民权保护以及司法部处理K-12及高等教育相关投诉的能力表示担忧。

During the Education Department's annual Office of Special Education Programs conference in August, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the department's work to reduce federal red tape is rooted in the "firm and unwavering commitment to fully supporting the protections guaranteed, first and foremost, under federal law."

在教育部门于八月举行的年度特殊教育项目办公室会议上，美国教育部长琳达·麦克马洪表示，该部门为减少联邦繁文缛节所作的努力，源于“坚定不移地全力支持那些首先由联邦法律所保障的各项保护措施”。

A House Republican-backed package of 10 bills, which was introduced in July and passed by the Education and Workforce Committee that same month, proposes codifying several interagency agreements by permanently moving select legal responsibilities out of the Education Department to other federal agencies.

一项由众议院共和党支持的包含10项法案的方案于7月提出，并于同月获教育与劳动力委员会通过，该方案拟通过将部分法律职责永久性地从教育部转移至其他联邦机构，从而将若干跨部门协议予以法典化。