On Tuesday, June 3, 2025, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon defended the U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) FY 26 Budget at a Senate hearing on Capital Hill. The budget recommends a total of $66.7 billion for all USDE activities, which would be $12 billion, or 15.3%, less than its current funding level. For the K-12 portion of the budget, the goal is a $4.5 billion cut.

Items of contention included the cancellation of about $1 billion in multi-year school-based mental health grants that were previously awarded to support students’ well-being. Also, several Republican and Democratic senators pleaded with McMahon to rethink a proposal to zero out $1.2 billion in federal TRIO programs that provide outreach and support for students from disadvantaged backgrounds in their academic paths from middle school through post baccalaureate programs. Several senators also questioned McMahon about the enforcement of civil rights in schools, especially as the USDE, since January, fired or accepted “buyouts” from about half its staff. Even before the staff reductions and the closing of over half of OCR offices, several civil rights advocates said OCR was understaffed.

The FY 26 budget proposal recommends reducing OCR’s budget from $140 million to $91 million and McMahon was asked about the justification for the workforce reductions across the agency and if it had studied the effects on the education system before the reductions took place. McMahon said a study hadn’t been conducted, but that restructuring staff can be “painful.”

According to McMahon, she and President Donald Trump have set a goal for the “responsible” closure of the USDE.

Currently, the federal government is technically operating on the approved FY 2024 budget because an extension of the FY 2024 budget, or continuing resolution for FY 2025, runs through September 30, 2024. The 2026 fiscal year then starts on October 1st. However, despite the already approved allocations of funding, McMahon said the USDE is analyzing the unallocated dollars to determine which programs to fund as the clock ticks and the time for distribution is running out, which could have legal implications.

On June 3rd, the USDE released its FY 26 budget justification. Click here to view it.

For more from K-12, click here.

On Friday, May 30, 2025 the White House revealed further details on its FY 26 budget proposal. Several programs are targeted for spending reductions and eliminations under a new K-12 Simplified Funding Program (SFP). The K-12 SFP merges 18 current competitive formula funding grant programs into one $2 billion formula grant program that the administration said will spur innovation and give states more decision-making power.

As reported by K-12 Dive, under the new plan programs that used to have dedicated line budgets — such as the McKinney-Vento grant to support students experiencing homelessness, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers for before and afterschool learning programs, and the Title II, Part A program to support teacher effectiveness — would be consolidated in the K-12 SFP.

Some other programs are being recommended for defunding. Those programs include teacher and school leader incentive grants, the Supporting Effective Educator Development grant, the English Language Acquisition state grants, and full service community schools. Eliminating these programs would ensure fiscal discipline, reduce the federal role in education and give states more authority to make their own fiscal decisions, the budget document said.

Many of the proposed cuts are to programs that the Trump administration said are too “woke” or rooted in diversity, equity and inclusion practices. For example, the White House said it wants to eliminate $315 million for Preschool Development grants that the administration said was a “push” to include DEI practices into early childhood programs. Another $77 million is recommended for cuts to Teacher Quality Partnerships because the grants were used to “indoctrinate new teachers,” the White House said. Equity Assistance Centers, which are funded at $7 million currently, would be eliminated because the technical assistance work includes divisive topics such as critical race theory, DEI, social justice activism and anti-racist practices, according to budget documents.

On a positive note, one program previously thought to be considered for elimination — the Head Start early learning program for young children — is now recommended for level funding at $12.3 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For more details from K-12 Dive, click here.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which narrowly passed 215-214, sees House Republicans proposing to scale down funding for the two programs for low-income Americans as a cost-savings measure, while also aiming to prioritize tax cuts. According to a preliminary analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) the bill would cut $267 billion in federal funding to SNAP by 2034. The CBO also estimates there would be $698 billion less in federal subsidies to Medicaid.

In addition, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities should those significant cuts to these federal programs move forward, millions of children and their families could lose access to SNAP benefits and Medicaid coverage. 

Now in the Senate, it remains unclear exactly how much federal funding going to states and school districts will be impacted until the bill reconciliation process is complete.

For more from K-12 Dive click here.

On May 27, 2025 Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the removal of the COVID-19 vaccine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) immunization schedule for “healthy children and pregnant women.” “We’re now one step closer to realizing President Trump’s promise to Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy said in a video message posted on X.

Although the text posted noted HHS was taking action effective May 27, 2025, the official immunization schedule on the CDC website had not changed as of that date.

The CDC’s immunization schedule is not only a guide for doctors, it also determines insurance coverage for most major private plans and Medicaid expansion programs.

The chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) committee on infectious diseases told ABC News that the AAP was not consulted regarding the announcement, which is not in keeping with a long-established, evidence-based process that has been used to make vaccine recommendations in the U.S.

It remains unclear what federal health officials consider “healthy” children or pregnant women.

Ironically, the announcement comes at a time when a highly infectious new COVID strain from China, which led to a massive spike in hospitalizations there, has spread to the U.S. Known as NB.1.8.1, the omicron variant has been tracked in New York, California, Arizona, Ohio and Rhode Island.

Source: ABC News

For more on the new strain, click here.