On Friday afternoon, May 30, the Trump Administration released its full Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget request. This comes after they released their “skinny” budget request last month.
The full budget reinforces the President’s request to cut $12 billion in discretionary spending for the Department of Education (ED). ACTE previously posted about the initial request when it was released in early May.
While information on CTE funding wasn’t included in the initial budget request, the more detailed budget does shed light on the Administration’s priorities related to Perkins. The budget calls for the Perkins State Grant to be level funded for FY 2026 at approximately $1.44 billion. However, there is language in the budget proposal that indicates the Administration wants to shift Perkins funds “to exclusively support middle and high school students at the district level,” and not postsecondary programs. This type of change could not be made without amendments to Perkins.
The National Programs account would be decreased by $2.2 million, leaving the account funded at $10.2 million. In the request, the Administration said that this funding would “support research, development, dissemination, evaluation, assessment, capacity building, and technical assistance activities.” Funds would also be allocated within that total for the Perkins Innovation and Modernization grant, which is suggested to be used “to enhance connections between the education system and Registered Apprenticeships to support unifying the public workforce system, States' career and technical education systems, and the Registered Apprenticeship system.” This would represent a shift from the current grant purposes.
Additionally in the budget request, the Administration requested no funding for adult education programs, which would effectively eliminate the program if enacted. The budget states, “States and localities, not the Federal government, are best suited to determine whether to support the activities authorized under this program or similar activities within their own budgets and without unnecessary administrative burden imposed by the Federal government.” The document goes on to say that federal resources from this account would be redirected to programs like the Perkins State Grants; however, it does not formally move any additional funding into the Perkins account.
Other proposals for ED include:
- 80% reduction in Federal Work Study
- Cuts to the maximum Pell Grant award
- Level Funding for the Every Student Succeeds (ESSA) Title I Grants for local education agencies
- A new $2 billion block grant, called the “K-12 Simplified Funding Program,” would consolidate 18 formula and competitive grant programs but reduce overall funding by 69% across these programs
- $60 million increase for Charter Schools
Funding in the proposal for the Department of Labor (DoL) would be reduced by nearly 35 percent. The budget also calls for combining 11 existing programs into a $2.96 billion block grant called “Make America Skilled Again” (MASA), which would consolidate the following workforce development programs:
- Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Adult grants
- WIOA Dislocated Worker grants
- WIOA Youth grants
- Wagner-Peyser Employment Service State Grants
- Dislocated Worker National Reserve (including the Strengthening Community Colleges program)
- YouthBuild
- Apprenticeship Program
- National Farmworker Jobs Program
- Indian and Native American Programs
- Reentry Employment Opportunities
- Workforce Data Quality Initiative
The proposed funding level represents a 24% cut from current funding levels of these programs. The DOL budget proposal also includes the elimination of Job Corps and several other programs, and shifting the Bureau of Labor Statistics to the Department of Commerce.
Congress returns this week and will continue their work on full FY 2026 appropriations bills. As Congress continues this work, ACTE will be advocating for a robust investment in CTE (at both the secondary and postsecondary levels) as well as other critical programs that increase access to learners of all ages. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to ACTE’s Government Relations Manager, Jimmy Koch ([email protected]).