(The Center Square) – As lawmakers begin crafting the 12 annual appropriations bills that fund federal agencies, the U.S. Department of Education is asking for a 15% budget cut, rather than a funding increase.
The department’s fiscal year 2026 budget request — which also includes plans to consolidate grant programs, cut money for the Office for Civil Rights, and address the Pell Grant shortfall – would reduce annual federal education spending to $66.7 billion.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon told the Senate Appropriations Committee in a Tuesday hearing that the budget plan would reduce bureaucracy, save taxpayers $12 billion, and preserve key programs.
“Eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy doesn’t mean cutting Federal education funding,” McMahon said. “In fact, it ensures that more funding reaches its intended recipients, students, by reducing administrative overhead.”
The budget plan proposes eliminating duplicative or “non-essential” programs, including Title II and Title IV programs that support teacher training and higher education opportunities for low-income students, respectively. The 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative, which supports the creation of afterschool programs, would also end.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers expressed concern over the proposed elimination of the TRIO program, one of many federal initiatives providing resources for disadvantaged students who want to attend college.
McMahon said that she is willing to renegotiate the terms of TRIO and other programs funded by the department if accountability measures are introduced. The Education department is currently prohibited from auditing TRIO spending.
The budget does preserve current funding levels for the two core sources of K-12 education funding – $18.4 billion for the Title I-A program serving low-income students and nearly $15 billion for IDEA Part B grants serving students with disabilities. But it consolidates seven separate IDEA funding streams into one grant directly available to states, as well as consolidates 18 competitive formula grant programs into one K-12 Simplified Funding Program.
McMahon said the changes would increase flexibility for states to spend federal dollars and “ensure those dollars are maximized within each state.” The goal of the department’s budget, she added, is to shift responsibilities for educational services to states, which are better equipped to provide them.
But Democrats voiced concerns that returning too many tasks to the state and local governments will result in increased education costs, which could force poorer states to scale back or cut education resources.
Democrats also blasted the budget’s plan to slash funding for Office for Civil Rights to $91 million, a $49 million decrease since 2024. They questioned how the Trump administration plans to fight the rise of antisemitism on college campuses without enough funds.
McMahon referenced multiple actions taken by the Trump administration to combat the problem, such as pressuring Harvard University, which saw massive pro-Palestine protests on its campus, to crack down on antisemitic acts and language or else lose federal funding.
One of the more bipartisan reforms the budget request lays out is allowing Pell Grants to be used for short-term workforce training programs. A less bipartisan proposal addresses the Pell Grant shortfall by capping the maximum award at $5,710 during 2026-2027, down from $7,395 in 2024-2025.
The federal government has spent $3 trillion taxpayer dollars on education since 1980, when the Department of Education began operating. Since then, student math and reading scores have dropped from first in the world to 28th and 36th, respectively, while outstanding student loans total $1.6 trillion.
“We’re wasting taxpayer dollars, and it’s not paying a dividend back,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said at the hearing. “We have to make changes.”
