Congress Maintains

Congress just passed an education budget for 2026. For the most part, the budget remains similar to 2025 expenditures.

This action comes after a year of Donald Trump blustering about how he and Linda McMahon, his secretary of education, would dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. Based upon the actions of House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republican majority, their approval of the coming year’s federal education spending suggests what many know about Trump – lots of talk, little action.

EducationWeek reported last week that,

“After more than a year of uncertainty over how a Republican-controlled Congress under President Donald Trump would change federal education funding, lawmakers…approved a fiscal 2026 budget that maintains level funding for virtually every existing K-12 program.”

“Ultimately, Congress comprehensively rejected the Trump administration’s proposals to slash billions of dollars from federal education investments. Schools nationwide can expect roughly similar year-over-year funding levels this fall for key programs like Title I for students from low-income households, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act for special education services, Title II for professional development, and Title III for English learners.”

“The final legislation doesn’t require the Trump administration to halt efforts to shift Education Department programs to other agencies, and it doesn’t explicitly prohibit the administration from taking further steps to diminish the Cabinet-level agency.”

“It does, however, include requirements for the department to consult more closely with Congress on the status of its efforts to shift responsibilities to other agencies. It also includes nearly $400 million for Education Department staff compensation, only slightly less than for the previous fiscal year despite recent staff reductions that have nearly cut the agency’s ranks in half.”

Of the programs the Trump administration wanted to eliminate, Title II (professional development), Title III (English-learner services), Title IV-A (academic enrichment/student support), Title IV-B (before- and after-school programs), Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP), Comprehensive Literacy State Development, McKinney-Vento (homeless student services), Comprehensive Centers, Education Innovation and Research, Full-Service Community Schools, Magnet Schools, Promise Neighborhoods, Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED), Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP), Teacher and School Leader (TSL) Incentive, Regional Education Laboratories, Arts Education, Innovative Approaches to Literacy, Civics, School Safety, Statewide Family Engagement Centers, Javits Gifted and Talented Students, TRIO, GEAR-UP, Hawkins, Institute of Museum and Library Services, and AmeriCorps were all funded by Congress for 2026.

Over half of federal education spending, $46 million of the overall $79 million, is applied to Title I, IDEA, and Head Start.

I’m not a huge fan of the federal department of education, at least in the way it currently operates. It could be far more creative in introducing new forms of learning models, especially those that utilize personalized learning plans. It could be far more research-based when it comes to providing different learning models for kids and families currently trapped in sucky schools.

But those types of innovations probably are not going to happen with the current administration making decisions on what teaching and learning looks like in this country.

If there is one thing Donald Trump isn’t, he isn’t a creator (unless it’s developing Gaza into a Middle East Las Vegas). Up to this point, thinking of public education, especially for black, brown, and poor kids, he’s been more of a slasher – someone interested in elimination more than ideation and creation.

But, as ABPTL has pointed out in the past, until we get national leadership that is committed to providing a new learning model for those kids and families that desperately need it, it’s better for us to fund and maintain services that help kids maintain, even if they aren’t improving.

It seems Congress did that this past week.

Til tomorrow. SVB