Washington Update, June 2, 2025
Dear Colleagues:
The Administration’s FY 2026 budget request offers one of the clearest signals yet about how federal priorities are shifting when it comes to education. While some of us expected reductions, the scale and focus of the proposed cuts are stark—particularly in the areas of equity, educator preparation, and research. This analysis outlines key takeaways and implications for higher education leaders, researchers, and advocates preparing to navigate what’s next.
Federal Education Update: What We’re Seeing in the President’s FY 2026 Budget Proposal
Late Friday afternoon (because of course), the Administration quietly dropped its full FY 2026 budget request for education and related federal programs. While we’ve been tracking the broad strokes through the “skinny budget” released earlier this month, this new release gives us a deeper, and in many cases more alarming, look at proposed cuts, consolidations, and policy shifts that would have real impacts on our students, our institutions, and the communities we serve.
Big Picture: A Shrinking Commitment
The U.S. Department of Education’s discretionary budget would be cut by $12.4 billion, a 15.6% reduction, bringing it down to $66.7 billion. For context, last year’s House proposal to cut the budget to $67.9 billion was so severe it never made it to a vote. This request goes even further—and with less fanfare.
More than half of the cuts target K-12 programs, with $4.3 billion pulled from postsecondary education. The remainder impacts adult education, career and technical education, and research, including a significant reduction to the Institute of Education Sciences.
Why This Matters: These aren’t just policy shifts—they’re resource reallocations that will force difficult decisions across the education continuum. For colleges and universities, particularly those serving underrepresented and first-generation students, this could deepen existing inequities and limit pathways into and through higher education.
Higher Education: Deep Cuts to Student Access and Support
The budget proposes to eliminate or severely reduce nearly every federal program designed to help students afford, access, and complete college—especially students who are low-income, first-generation, or non-traditional.
Key proposed eliminations and cuts include:
• Pell Grant: The maximum award is reduced by $1,685 (22%), despite flat funding overall. The Administration blames "chronic mismanagement" of the program.
• Federal Work Study: Cut by 80% ($980 million).
• SEOG (Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants): Eliminated entirely ($910 million).
• TRIO and GEAR UP: Both cut completely, eliminating $1.2 billion and $388 million respectively.
• Institutional support programs: Zeroed out, including:
o Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)
o Strengthening Institutions
o International education
o Child Care Access Means Parents in School
o Teacher Quality Partnerships
o Hawkins Centers of Excellence
Why This Matters: These programs help level the playing field. Without them, institutions will be forced to absorb the cost of student supports or scale back services. For many regional public universities and minority-serving institutions, this is unsustainable—and student retention and success will suffer.
Educator Preparation: Entire Category Wiped Out
The FY 2026 budget completely eliminates federal support for teacher and school leader preparation, including:
• Teacher Quality Partnerships: –$70 million
• Hawkins Centers of Excellence: –$15 million
• Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED): –$90 million
• Teacher and School Leader Incentive Grants: –$60 million
• Title II – Supporting Effective Instruction Grants: –$2.19 billion
• Personnel Preparation under IDEA: –$115 million
Why This Matters: At a time when educator shortages—particularly in special education—are worsening, this proposal strips away every federal investment designed to address them. These cuts undermine the educator pipeline, especially for diverse and high-need districts, and leave preparation programs with fewer tools to recruit, train, and retain effective teachers.
Special Education: Restructured, Not Reinforced
Total FY26 IDEA Funding: $15.467 billion (flat from FY24)
• Grants to States (Part B): Increased by $677 million (+4.8%)
• Infants and Families (Part C): Maintained at $540 million
• Special Olympics Education: Maintained at $36 million
But: Seven IDEA programs are consolidated and eliminated as standalone investments, including:
• Preschool Grants
• Personnel Preparation
• State Personnel Development
• TA & Dissemination
• Parent Information Centers
• Educational Technology & Media
• Special Education Studies and Evaluations
Why This Matters: While the total funding appears flat, the loss of dedicated, targeted programs could have devastating consequences. These eliminated programs supported training, family engagement, research, and systems capacity—critical pillars for both K-12 and educator prep partners in higher education. A single block grant to states cannot replace those multifaceted supports.
Education Research: Institute of Education Sciences Slashed
Total FY26 IES Funding: $261 million Change from FY24: –$532 million (–67.1%)
Eliminated:
• Research, Development, and Dissemination
• Research in Special Education
• Statistics (including NCES)
• Regional Education Labs
• Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems
• Special Education Studies and Evaluations
• Program Administration
Remaining funds ($124 million) are listed as “unallocated for statutory requirements.”
Why This Matters: These cuts all but dismantle the federal infrastructure for education research, evaluation, and continuous improvement. Faculty who depend on IES data, research funding, or longitudinal systems for grantmaking and program design will find significantly reduced opportunities—and fewer national datasets for evidence-based practice.
K-12 Funding: Consolidated and Dismantled
The budget consolidates 18 K-12 programs—including those focused on literacy, enrichment, civics, school safety—into one new $2 billion formula grant, resulting in a net 69% reduction.
Programs eliminated include:
• Teacher/principal professional development
• Migrant Education
• English Language Acquisition
• Homeless Youth Education
• Adult Education and Family Literacy
Why This Matters: These changes signal a move away from federal investment in comprehensive K-12 education, especially for historically underserved students. Institutions that rely on strong K-12 pipelines, dual enrollment partnerships, or educator preparation programs will be navigating less resourced—and less stable—school systems.
Workforce Development: Fewer On-Ramps, Fewer Options
The Department of Labor’s education and workforce programs are not spared. The budget cuts DoL funding by $4.6 billion (35%) and rolls multiple existing initiatives into a new “Make America Skilled Again” block grant—with a $2.5 billion (44%) cut to total workforce investment.
Meanwhile, adult education is eliminated entirely from ED.
Why This Matters: Postsecondary institutions—especially community colleges—are critical partners in workforce development. With fewer federal dollars available, it becomes more difficult to offer training for working adults, career-changers, or displaced workers. This hits rural communities and lower-income populations the hardest.
Eliminated or Frozen Programs Outside ED
Several additional eliminations reflect the Administration’s broader effort to scale back or privatize public services:
• Institute of Museum and Library Services: Eliminated
• Corporation for National and Community Service: Eliminated
• Head Start: Funding is frozen at FY24 levels
• Rural Education Achievement Program: Eliminated
• Charter Schools: One of the only increases—$60 million added
Why This Matters: These cuts reflect a prioritization of privatized, generalized solutions over community-rooted and equity-driven programs. For higher education institutions that partner with libraries, service corps, early childhood providers, or rural districts, this means fewer collaborators—and fewer support structures in the communities where our students live and learn.
This proposal reflects a shift in how the federal government views its role in public education—particularly for students with disabilities, for whom the elimination of targeted programs may limit resources and capacity to deliver comprehensive supports.
It is important that policymakers, educators, and stakeholders examine the full implications of these proposed changes, and continue to advocate for a funding structure that reflects the complexity and needs of today’s students.
Faculty, researchers, and doctoral scholars are not only stewards of knowledge—they are catalysts for change. Your voice in this moment matters. You bring the research, lived experience, and moral clarity needed to elevate what works and to push for what is right. The future of inclusive education depends on your leadership—in classrooms, in journals, and in the halls of power.
Stay visible. Stay informed. Stay engaged.
With resolve,
Kait
@brennan_kait
