Yesterday, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies. Her testimony focused on the Trump Administration’s budget proposal outline for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026.
In its FY 2026 outline, the Administration proposed a $12 billion cut to the Department of Education (ED). In her testimony, McMahon noted that this request was part of the larger effort to support President Trump’s goal to “eliminate federal bureaucracy and return education to the states.”
McMahon noted that programs intended to be eliminated are ones that are “rife with wase, fraud or abuse.” The budget request also creates a K-12 Simplified Funding Program, which would consolidate 18 grant programs into a $2 billion formula grant.
Other programs that face funding cuts in the proposal include adult education, grants for teacher preparation and professional development, TRIO and Gear UP, federal work study, English Language Acquisition, grants for preschool development, programs within the National Science Foundation, postsecondary institutional grants, and many others. Funds for program administration and staffing at ED are also reduced. CTE programs or Perkins were not addressed in the budget outline, and Secretary McMahon did not mention them in the hearing either, so it is unclear what the Administration’s goals are related to Perkins funding. More information can be found here.
Committee Chair Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL) praised the budget and reforms noting that despite record spending, test scores are continually low and America is losing ground compared to other nations.
A recording of the hearing can be found here.
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