EXCLUSIVE: Education Department Saves Taxpayers Hundreds of Thousands by Closing Costly Unit

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Department of Education is closing its in-house health clinic, which cost almost $500,000 per year to operate while only serving patients two hours per day.

The move will save $27,631 in the remainder of fiscal year 2025. Closing the clinic will save another $424,631 for fiscal year 2026, according to the agency.

“The Trump administration is no longer allowing tax dollars to go out the door on autopilot. Pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars per year into a clinic that opened for only two hours a day, barely saw patients, and offered limited medical services is the textbook definition of bureaucratic bloat,” Department of Education press secretary Savannah Newhouse told The Daily Signal. “As we return education to the states, we’re zeroing in on every ounce of waste to make sure more resources land where they belong: with students.”

The clinic’s mission was to provide “occupational health services to improve the health, safety, and productivity of the federal workforce.”

The clinic provided only 267 services to a total of 60 patients in 2024, with cost of $1430.71 per service, the department says.

The office was only open between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Over-the-counter prescriptions could not be provided, and charges were made per individual health service, like administering a flu vaccine, giving instructions about the vaccine, taking blood pressure, using the scale, and providing “assessment and evaluation.”

On the vast majority of days, no services were rendered. 

The clinic had roughly 60 patients in 2024, total estimating $6,366.67 per patient. Other typical visits besides flu shots included several people using the scale and leaving, doing a basic health screening (mostly blood pressure and “health coaching”), and having “bed rest.” 

The clinic’s closure follows Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s most significant move to date to dismantle the federal agency.

The department announced new interagency agreements with four agencies. The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, as well as the Postsecondary Education Office, will move to the Labor Department.

The agency’s Office of Indian Education will move to the Interior Department, and oversight of the Fulbright-Hays overseas research program and all of the government’s international education and foreign language initiatives will move to the State Department.

“This commonsense action brings the Trump administration much closer to finally returning education where it belongs at the state and local level, not in Washington, D.C.,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.