The White House has proposed to merge the federal Department of Education and the Department of Labor. The merger would form a new agency called the Department of Education and the Workforce.

This proposal is one of the many that the administration has mentioned in a 132-page document for the restructuring of the federal government. Their focus is to create a leaner, more efficient and more accountable government.

Changes to the cabinet are rare, and something this monumental may have a hard time to get approval in Congress. But if it goes through, the merger would have a lasting impact on American education, with not everything being beneficial for schools.

The new agency would have four main sub-agencies: K-12; higher education and workforce development; enforcement; and research, evaluation, and administration. The proposal reflects the administration's focus on career technical education and skill-building that American students need today.

The two departments already partner on some vocational training and adult education programs. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is also looking at acquiring some Labor Department programs that focus on unemployed adult workers, "out-of-school" youth, and reintegrating ex-prisoners.

This merger could enhance that partnership, or at least DeVos thinks so. She and her team believe that this will make the federal government more responsive to students' and industry needs.

The consolidation would cut some redundancy across the agencies. It would bring together two departments that can improve higher education, vocational education, and rehabilitation.

How would this affect K-12 schools?

The Education Department handles K-12 budget allocation. That would fall under the general purview of the merged department in the future.

While there is no mention of budget cuts now, the risk is high. The president and Secretary DeVos proposed significant budget cuts in the past. On the campaign trail in 2015, President Trump suggested cutting the Education Department entirely.

Enforcing civil rights laws would become a part of the new department’s "enforcement" sub-agency. It would enforce both worker protections and civil rights laws that protect students. Or would it?

Betsy DeVos has already overseen a massive rollback of Obama-era guidelines during her time at the department. Some of these are lifelines for students at risk.

Rules that protect transgender students are no longer enforced on many campuses. Guidelines to advise colleges on how to respond in the event of an alleged sexual assault are absent.

Recently, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has begun dismissing claims of civil rights violations under the new protocols. Investigators can now disregard cases that they find burdensome. Cases that are part of serial filings will be the first to go.

The goal is to help officers better manage their dockets and make proceedings more efficient, but civil rights advocates are worried. They believe that some officers can use this rule to reject legitimate claims that seek to enforce civil rights laws in the nation’s schools.