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Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Education Department eyes program cuts, consolidations in FY26 budget plan
This story was originally published on K-12 Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily K-12 Dive newsletter. The Trump administration revealed more details of its fiscal year 2026 budget proposal for the U.S. Department of Education on Friday, detailing its vision for how the agency would support students with disabilities and those from low-income families while also cutting federal red tape and expanding school choice incentives. Last month, the White House released an FY 2026 "skinny" budget that included a more than $4.5 billion cut in K-12 funding. The more comprehensive budget recommends a total of $66.7 billion for all Education Department activities, which would be $12 billion, or 15.3%, less than its current funding level. "Our goal is clear: to make education better, fairer, and more accountable by ending Federal overreach and empowering families, schools, and States who best know the needs of their students," the budget document said. The budget recommends maintaining funding for Title I, Part A grants to low-income school communities at $18.4 billion and an increase of $677.5 million — for a total of $14.9 billion — for Part B state grants under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Other K-12 programs slated for increases or level funding include the charter school grant program ($500 million), Impact Aid ($1.6 billion), Indian education ($194.7 million), and career and technical education ($1.45 billion). But several other programs are targeted for spending reductions and eliminations under a new K-12 Simplified Funding Program. The K-12 SFP merges 18 current competitive formula funding grant programs into one $2 billion formula grant program that the administration said will spur innovation and give states more decision-making power. Programs that used to have dedicated line budgets — such as the McKinney-Vento grant to support students experiencing homelessness, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers for before and afterschool learning programs, and the Title II, Part A program to support teacher effectiveness — would be consolidated in the K-12 SFP. Some other programs are being recommended for defunding. Those programs include teacher and school leader incentive grants, the Supporting Effective Educator Development grant, the English Language Acquisition state grants, and full service community schools. Eliminating these programs would ensure fiscal discipline, reduce the federal role in education and give states more authority to make their own fiscal decisions, the budget document said. Many of the proposed cuts are to programs that the Trump administration said are too "woke" or rooted in diversity, equity and inclusion practices. For example, the White House said it wants to eliminate $315 million for Preschool Development grants that the administration said was a "push" to include DEI practices into early childhood programs. Another $77 million is recommended for cuts to Teacher Quality Partnerships because the grants were used to "indoctrinate new teachers," the White House said. Equity Assistance Centers, which are funded at $7 million currently, would be eliminated because the technical assistance work includes divisive topics such as critical race theory, DEI, social justice activism and anti-racist practices, according to budget documents. One program previously thought to be considered for elimination — the Head Start early learning program for young children — is now recommended for level funding at $12.3 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. While the Trump administration has released more details of its FY 26 plan, justifications for the proposals are still being developed. U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon will appear before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee panel Tuesday to discuss the funding requests. Some conservative organizations applauded the spending plan. Madison Marino Doan, a policy analyst in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, said the request represents what the Education Department calls a "responsible wind-down" of the agency, which is welcomed by the conservative group. Doan said The Heritage Foundation is especially encouraged by the proposed consolidation of 18 grant programs into the K-12 SFP. "If implemented effectively, the department has indicated that these changes would reduce administrative burdens and compliance costs, allowing more resources to flow directly to students and classrooms, and giving states and districts greater flexibility to meet their unique needs," Doan said. Many education associations, however, were quick to condemn the fiscal plan, the first annual budget proposal of President Donald Trump's second term. AASA, The School Superintendents Association, said it was "disappointed" in the budget recommendations and opposes the cuts and consolidations. 'In an attempt to provide flexible district funding, the President proposed cuts to resources that are imperative to delivering services for rural schools, evidence-based reading instruction, professional development for educators, supports for English-language learners as well as music, art, and STEM programs,' AASA said in a statement. For special education grants, the Trump administration wants to consolidate preschool grants to states and IDEA, Part D funding for technical assistance and teacher preparation into the Part B program. Funding for IDEA Part C for services to infants and toddlers with disabilities would remain a separate formula grant program. Although the fiscal design would give states more flexibility with spending the Part D dollars, the budget proposal said states would still be required to meet key IDEA accountability and reporting requirements. AASA points out that consolidations mean that the administration's proposed $677.5 million increase for IDEA Part B won't see much of a boost because those programs were collectively funded at $676 million. Myrna Mandlawitz, the policy and legislative consultant at the Council of Administrators of Special Education, said the problem with lumping the Part B, the preschool grant program and Part D together is that those sections of IDEA allocations were meant to be their own funding avenues to ensure each population served by those programs get the fiscal attention they need. "When all the money is just sent to states, some states do well and some not so well," Mandlawitz said. Jodi Grant, executive director of Afterschool Alliance, offered a dire warning if the budget proposal was accepted as written, saying that funding cuts to after-school programing will lead to "more academic failures, more hungry kids, more chronic absenteeism, higher dropout rates, more parents forced out of their jobs, and a less STEM-ready and successful workforce.' In a statement, Grant said, "Unless Congress rejects this devastating proposal, afterschool and summer learning programs in every corner of the country will close and our child care crisis will worsen dramatically." Eddie Koen, president of the Institute for Educational Leadership, criticized the proposed elimination of Full-Service Community Schools and the K-12 SFP consolidation of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers. "The Department of Education's FY26 Budget Request falls far short of funding the evidence-based, bold, family and child-centered strategies our students, families, schools, and communities urgently need,' Koen said in a statement. Even leaders who are overseeing programs recommended for increases or level funding voiced their concerns. "Maintaining funding for a third consecutive year — without accounting for inflation, workforce competition, or increased needs — is effectively a deep cut," said Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the National Head Start Association, in a statement. "It means programs will be forced to make impossible choices, including reducing enrollment, cutting hours, or laying off staff." The federal government is technically operating on the approved FY 2024 budget since Congress has not finalized a FY 2025 spending plan. An extension of the FY 2024 budget, or continuing resolution, runs through Sept. 30, and the 2026 fiscal year starts on Oct. 1. But as the Trump administration has already begun downsizing the Education Department and cutting programs, Democrats in Congress have criticized the White House for not adhering to the spending plan and for delays in getting approved money to states and districts. A May 16 letter to McMahon from three Democratic leaders of congressional appropriations committees chided the Education Department for what the lawmakers said are delays in providing states and school districts with information about expected formula funding. "We implore the Department to reverse course, stop creating chaos, provide states and school districts with information about the resources Congress provided in the 2025 appropriations law and begin to support states and their school districts in the effective implementation of federal law," the letter said. According to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, President Trump is expected to submit a request to Congress this week to rescind funds already appropriated. In addition to debating funding levels for FY 26, Congress is also working on a massive tax and spending package that seeks to make permanent tax cuts enacted in 2017 under the first Trump administration. The budget reconciliation package aims to reduce taxes and offset costs of new priorities under the second Trump administration, including a new federal private school choice initiative.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Betrayal of a sacred federal promise'
Kevin AbourezkICT A Democratic U.S. senator and a Native American education advocate said Thursday that President Donald Trump's executive order calling for dismantling the U.S. Education Department could have disastrous impacts on Native signed the order Thursday, advancing a campaign promise to take apart an agency that's been a longtime target of conservatives. He has derided the Education Department as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. However, completing its dismantling is most likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979. Republicans said they will introduce a bill to achieve department, however, is not set to close completely. The White House said the department will retain certain critical functions. Trump said his administration will close the department beyond its 'core necessities," preserving its responsibilities for Title I funding for low-income schools, Pell grants and money for children with disabilities. The White House said earlier it would also continue to manage federal student president blamed the department for America's lagging academic performance and said states will do a better job.'It's doing us no good," he said at a White House ceremony. However, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawai'i, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, said Thursday that Trump's order effectively violates the government's federal trust and treaty responsibilities to tribes to provide education. 'The Department of Education plays a critical role in Native education, on everything from special education and Impact Aid to Native language revitalization,' he said in a news release. 'Without a functional Department of Education, Native students – more than 90 percent of whom attend public schools – will be at the mercy of state governments that have no legal responsibility to meet their needs.' The Education Department sends billions of dollars a year to schools and oversees $1.6 trillion in federal student much of the agency's work revolves around managing money — both its extensive student loan portfolio and a range of aid programs for colleges and school districts, such as school meals and support for homeless students. The agency also is key in overseeing civil rights called the order a 'betrayal of a sacred federal promise.''We have a duty to fight this reckless plan and protect Native students,' he said. More than 92 percent of Native students attend public and charter K-12 schools, not Bureau of Indian Education schools, Schatz the Education Department would slash funding for Native students in public, charter and BIE schools, which rely on resources like Individuals with Disabilities Education Act special education services, Impact Aid, English Language Learner supports, and Every Student Succeeds Act Title VI Indian education programs.'It would also mean less dedicated funding for teachers, sports, building repairs, school meal programs, transportation, and after-school tutoring/activities – leaving Native students with fewer educational opportunities,' Schatz the Trump administration has been gutting the agency. Its workforce is being slashed in half, and there have been deep cuts to the Office for Civil for public schools said eliminating the department would leave children behind in an American education system that is fundamentally unequal.'This is a dark day for the millions of American children who depend on federal funding for a quality education, including those in poor and rural communities with parents who voted for Trump,' NAACP President Derrick Johnson said the order will be fought in the courts and in Congress, and they urged Republicans to join them in opposition. The department was 'founded in part to guarantee the enforcement of students' civil rights,' said Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. 'Champions of public school segregation objected, and campaigned for a return to 'states' rights.'' Cheryl Crazy Bull, president and chief executive officer of the American Indian College Fund, said Native American students should not be considered as members of a racial group, such as Black or Hispanic students, but rather as members of politically distinct sovereign nations with rights secured by treaties. 'We gave up land and resources in order for the United States to be founded and grow as a country,' she said. 'We're having to deal with that lack of knowledge on the part of many people." Native American students should be exempt from blanket attacks on programs and funding that serve minority and other vulnerable students, she said. 'We want to be allies with all of our other allies who are being attacked,' she said during a virtual panel discussion Thursday on efforts to protect minority students against federal policies. 'At the same time we have a different status that we have to advocate for.'She said further gutting or eliminating the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights would hurt Native American students, who rely on the office to ensure they are treated fairly. Native American students are suspended and expelled from schools at disproportionately high rates, studies have shown, including a recent study from Bull also expressed concern about the Trump administration cutting funding to the department's Institute of Education Sciences, which gathers data on the nation's academic progress.'The loss of data is going to have a great impact on our ability to evaluate how our institutions are dealing with students and how investment should be made,' she she said she worries the nation's 35 tribal colleges and universities also could see further funding cuts as a result of Trump's executive order. She said federal education funds account for roughly 74 percent of funds for those institutions, and some of those schools get 90 percent of their funding from federal sources.'Many of the institutions are at risk of having their programs decimated by the loss of funding,' she recent decision to lay off hundreds of thousands of federal probationary employees especially impacted the country's only two federally operated tribal higher education institutions, the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque and Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, both of which lost nearly one-fourth of their employees as a result of the federal published a report last year that showed tribal colleges and universities are perpetually underfunded by Congress despite federal legislation, as well as treaties, that have promised them adequate education funding. Those institutions receive a quarter-billion dollars less per year than they should, when accounting for inflation, and receive almost nothing to build and maintain their campuses, the nonprofit investigative news organization found. Those funding gaps have led to broken water pipes, leaking roofs and failing ventilation exacerbating the problem is the fact that state funds and private donations make up a miniscule portion of tribal college and university funding, meaning the loss of federal funding likely would be disastrous for those institutions, ProPublica found.'You freeze our funding and ask us to wait six months to see how it shakes out, and we close,' Ahniwake Rose, president of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, which lobbies for tribal colleges in Washington, D.C., told ProPublica. 'That's incredibly concerning.'Schatz said eliminating the Education Department, which administers federal loans and Pell grants, could impact Native students' ability to access college financial aid. And he echoed Crazy Bull's concerns about the impact of Trump's order on tribal colleges and universities.'Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), which depend on federal dollars for nearly three-quarters of their funding, could face catastrophic cuts if states decide not to maintain critical funding – pushing many to the brink of collapse and jeopardizing educational opportunities for future generations,' he Associated Press contributed to this report. Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute today to help ICT carry out its critical mission. Sign up for ICT's free newsletter.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Congressman Murphy visits childhood center in Jacksonville
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — Congressman Greg Murphy visited the Thompson Early Childhood Center in Jacksonville Friday. The center is provided funding through the Impact Aid Act that reimburses public schools for lost money related to being near non-taxable property like military bases. Payments from the act are for the schools to use for operations and education materials for military-connected students and students with disabilities. Congressman Murphy toured the facility and met students, teachers and Onslow County Schools officials to discuss how Congress can continue to help military-connected schools. 'I had a wonderful visit to Thompson Early Childhood Center to meet its bright students and dedicated teachers and discuss how Impact Aid is helping them thrive,' Congressman Murphy said. 'Military families make many sacrifices in service to our country and the quality of military-connected students' education should not suffer because of the challenges that come with the lifestyle. I am proud to support this critical funding that improves outcomes for so many young minds and appreciate the stellar job recipient schools are doing.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
After a Tornado of False Starts, Educators Remain in the Dark on School Funding
When a federal judge temporarily halted President Donald Trump's freeze on federal grant funding just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, it offered a degree of clarity after a day of widespread confusion in the world of education. Less than a day later, Trump appeared to rescind the Office of Management and Budget memo that set the funding 'pause' in motion. But just 30 minutes after that, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took to X to …rescind the rescission. 'This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze,' she posted. 'It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo.' Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter She described her post as an attempt to 'end the confusion.' It didn't. 'For an administration that wants to make the argument that public education is dysfunctional and not serving our students well, they are amplifying and contributing to that narrative,' said Amy Loyd, CEO of All4Ed, a policy and advocacy organization. Until last October, she served in the Department of Education as assistant secretary for the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education. For now, it's unclear which programs will be affected as the new administration takes stock of spending it deems wasteful or contrary to the president's agenda. Those goals include freeing up funds for school choice, ending 'wokeness' and passing a tax cut package. Start-up funds for charter schools, school lunches, funding for homeless students and hundreds of other federal grants 'will be reviewed by department leadership for alignment with Trump administration priorities,' said education department spokeswoman Madison Biederman. OMB said it spared major 'formula' grants, like Title I for low-income students, special education funding and Impact Aid to districts serving military families. While the administration said Head Start wouldn't be impacted, the preschool program is still listed among thousands to be reviewed. The administration originally gave agencies until Feb. 7 to identify grants that advance, among other things, 'Marxist equity, transgenderism and green new deal social engineering policies.' Over several chaotic hours, district leaders and advocates tried to interpret whether their programs would be cut while coming to terms with the enormity of the president's actions. 'This is more than a typical partisan divide,' said Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women's Law Center. 'This is an unusual and unprecedented power grab and every member of Congress should be concerned.' Related Challenging the administration's pause on funding Congress had already appropriated, three associations sued Tuesday, asking for a temporary restraining order 'to maintain the status quo.' Just before 5 p.m., as the freeze was about to start, U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan granted the request, noting the 'specter of irreparable harm.' Afterschool programs, food banks and organizations that arrange for children to be driven to cancer treatment centers are among those that would be impacted, said Rick Cohen, a spokesman for the National Council of Nonprofits, one of the groups that filed the complaint. Another plaintiff, Main Street Alliance, a network of small businesses, said its members include child care centers that serve low-income families using federal assistance so they can work. For many leaders, Tuesday was a rollercoaster. Just after lunch, Marvin Connelly, superintendent of the Cumberland County Schools in North Carolina, was trying to figure out how he'd handle a potential freeze on over $2 million in Impact Aid — funds that help make up for lost property tax revenue when there's a nearby military installation. A high-poverty district, Cumberland schools serve over 8,000 children of active service members stationed at Fort Liberty. 'We could really be in a grave situation,' he said. Less than two hours later, he learned the funds would not be affected. Meanwhile Barbara Duffield, executive director of SchoolHouse Connection, which supports homeless students, was participating on a panel at a conference in Washington when some nonprofit leaders told her they were unable to access federal funds for homeless youth and families. The effort to pause funding followed the president's first-day executive order that prohibits federal spending on diversity, equity and inclusion. On Thursday, the administration removed or archived hundreds of guidance documents, reports and training materials related to DEI and put staff members focusing on equity within the department on leave. 'Who knew dismantling could happen this quickly?' Ian Rowe, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute and the founder of a network of charter schools, told The 74. 'If these moves put America on a path to becoming a colorblind society, that is a very good thing.' Many conservatives argue such programs amount to a form of illegal discrimination and waste money. Neera Deshpande, a policy analyst at the Independent Women's Forum, pointed to reporting that shows the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia spent $6.4 million to staff its equity office. 'What is that money accomplishing besides adding layers of bureaucracy to the school system, burdening teachers, and taking away time and money from schools that could be used for instructional purposes or even extracurricular activities for students?' she asked. 'Every dollar that is allocated toward DEI is a dollar that's not allocated toward … teacher salaries or arts programs or literacy support or sports.' The reversal in priorities at the federal level has left some nonprofit leaders in a bind. When former President Joe Biden was in office, the director of a teacher apprenticeship initiative applied for a Department of Labor grant to help recruit a diverse pool of potential teachers. Now, he doesn't know whether that emphasis will hurt his application. 'I hope they can strike a balance with sanity here,' said the man, who asked not to be named to keep from jeopardizing the grant. 'I'm not going to talk about the diversity part, but we still have a significant crisis in the teacher pipeline. We have to attract individuals into this profession.' With more than 2,600 programs targeted for potential review, it's unclear which might ultimately be left on the chopping block. But at least one Republican said the National School Lunch Program shouldn't be off limits. On CNN, Georgia GOP Rep. Rich McCormick suggested low-income students shouldn't depend on schools for meals. The program, which costs roughly $17 billion, provides free and reduced-price meals for over 28 million children during the school year and extends services through the summer with the help of parks, recreation centers and other community organizations. 'You're telling me that kids who stay at home instead of going to work at Burger King, McDonald's, during the summer, should stay at home and get their free lunch instead of going to work?' he asked. 'I think we need to have a top-down review.' Other advocates noted that while federal funds make up only about 10% of a district's operating budget, some school systems rely on those dollars more than others. In 2023, AASA, the School Superintendents Association, created a map showing that overall, federal funds account for a larger share of district budgets in GOP-led states, mainly those in the South and West. 'Any conversation about federal funding levels — whether a cut in overall level or a proposal to freeze access — requires us to be very honest about the role of federal dollars in local school districts, and to be candid about the facts of who … is more reliant on federal dollars,' said Noelle Ellerson Ng, associate executive director for advocacy governance at AASA. Responding to news reports that the president had rescinded the freeze memo, Leavitt, the press secretary, posted that the president's executive orders nonetheless 'remain in full force and effect.' Ng doesn't know where that leaves the nation's schools, but she's run out of patience. Regarding Leavitt's post, she asked, 'Did it attempt to end confusion, or add a layer for today?'
