The Education Department gave another agency power to distribute its money. It hasn't gone well.

A controversial push to restructure the Education Department under the Trump administration has faced significant setbacks, raising questions about the feasibility of broader reforms. Early efforts to reorganize the agency’s oversight of federal student aid programs encountered resistance, with critics warning that the changes could disrupt critical funding mechanisms. Meanwhile, the Labor Department has been drawn into the debate, complicating the administration’s broader agenda to reshape federal education policy. The challenges highlight growing tensions between political goals and bureaucratic realities in implementing major regulatory shifts.

The stumbles of an early Trump administration experiment to carve up the Education Department risks undercutting the president’s more dramatic demolition plan for the agency. The Labor Department ...