Just two months after Congress maintained steady year-over-year funding for most education programs, the second Trump administration is asking lawmakers to once again consider major cuts for the upcoming fiscal year.
The 鈥攚hich Congress is unlikely to approve as written鈥攑roposes for the second year in a row to zero out longstanding federal education programs that support 糖心动漫vlog鈥� professional development (currently $2.2 billion a year), services for English learners ($890 million), academic enrichment and student supports ($1.4 billion), before- and after-school programs ($1.3 billion), rural schools ($220 million), and support for students experiencing homelessness ($129 million).
The administration is also reviving its longshot proposals to consolidate a slew of smaller education programs into a $2 billion education block grant鈥攃alled 鈥淢ake Education Great Again,鈥� or MEGA, grants in budget documents鈥攆or states to spend largely how they please. Discretionary grant programs that support research and educator training for special education, currently worth roughly $260 million a year, would similarly fold into the existing formula grant program that pays for special education services in schools.
Key flagship federal programs for education would remain intact under the president鈥檚 current proposal. The Trump administration is proposing level annual funding of $18.4 billion for Title I, which serves low-income students in more than 60% of the nation鈥檚 public schools. Funding for special education through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act would increase modestly year over year, to roughly $16 billion.
The final product of this year鈥檚 negotiations will be a package of spending allocations that will largely hit schools in the summer and fall of 2027. The current federal budget, which Congress approved in February, already determined funding levels schools can expect for key formula programs for the upcoming school year.
Federal funding for 2026-27 is already set
The White House budget draft kicks off federal spending negotiations for the 2027 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. Appropriators in Congress have until then to craft an agreement that secures sufficient support in both chambers as well as the president鈥檚 signature.
Lawmakers in recent years have regularly missed that deadline, instead agreeing to either a short-term extension of the previous year鈥檚 funding levels, or sending the federal government into a shutdown.
The latest budget proposal also highlights the limitations of the Trump administration鈥檚 signaling of the Department of Education鈥檚 demise. Programs that are now housed within agencies like the departments of Labor and Health and Human Services, or are on track to be, are still listed in budget documents under the umbrella of Education Department spending.
Meanwhile, key offices of the Education Department that were slated for or sustained significant staff reductions in the last year would get less funding under Trump鈥檚 proposal. The office for civil rights would lose roughly one-third of its current annual funding. The Institute of Education Sciences, which collects and disseminates data about the nation鈥檚 schools and funds education research, would experience an even steeper cut, from more than $700 million to just $261 million鈥攖he same amount Trump proposed for the institute in last year鈥檚 budget proposal before Congress approved only a small cut.
The only major K-12 program besides IDEA that would see increased funding year over year under Trump鈥檚 proposal is the Charter Schools program, from $500 million to $564 million鈥攆or which the Trump administration also secured an increase from lawmakers in the approved 2026 budget.
Overall, the administration is proposing $76.5 billion in annual appropriations for the Education Department鈥攔oughly a 3% drop from current levels.
The budget proposal also revives the Trump administration鈥檚 pitch from last year to close smaller agencies like AmeriCorps, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the National Endowment for the Humanities鈥攁ll of which fund some services used by schools and teachers.
The Trump administration鈥檚 efforts to shutter those agencies without congressional approval haven鈥檛 gained favor so far with lawmakers or courts.
On other fronts, though, the current White House has asserted unprecedented control over federal spending since the start of the second Trump administration, including canceling hundreds of previously awarded education grants and temporarily withholding billions of formula dollars Congress had already approved for states and schools.
Advocates and 糖心动漫vlog have already begun raising concerns that similar disruptions could be on the horizon in the months ahead.
This story will be updated.
