According to NPR, on April 16, 2025 U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated that autism is a rapidly growing “epidemic” in the U.S. and vowed to identify the “environmental toxin” he says is to blame, calling it “a preventable disease.” In addition, he said that within two to three weeks HHS will announce a series of new studies “to identify precisely what the environmental toxins are that are causing” autism, adding “we’re going to get back to it with an answer to the American people very, very quickly.” HHS also announced it expects to begin to have answers by this September.

However, some experts and advocates have cautioned that such a short time span is inadequate to design and conduct a study that could produce a reliable answer.

Kennedy also made remarks that were stigmatizing, inaccurate, and dehumanizing with regard to autistic people.

Further, although Kennedy was adamant that environmental causes are driving the increase in autism diagnoses, an April 17, 2025 CDC report has indicated that better screening may play a large role. The report also notes that differences in the prevalence across communities “might be due to differences in availability of services for early detection and evaluation and diagnostic practices.”

To make matters worse are proposed cuts to Medicaid, which some autistic people depend on, and the dismantling of the Administration for Community Living, a sub-agency of HHS.

Source: NPR.

A draft preliminary 2026 federal budget by the Trump administration that is expected to be sent to Congress would eliminate Head Start. In fact, according to K-12 Dive, Head Start is among other initiatives targeted for termination that support low-income families and children — including the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) — under the preliminary budget document for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Project 2025 — a blueprint for the current Republican administration issued during the presidential campaign by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank — recommended zeroing out the program. While some conservatives have called Head Start ineffective, supporters point to academic, social, and economic benefits.

Head Start which will be celebrating its 60th anniversary in May, serves nearly 800,000 infants, toddlers and preschool children from families with low incomes. A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study has shown that “although the differential benefits of Head Start for high-risk children are limited, nonetheless children enrolled should continue to receive services as, on average, the program boosts pre-academic skills and reduces problem behavior.”

Once it receives the proposed budget, Congress will debate the recommended allocations before sending appropriations bills to the president for signature. The federal fiscal year starts October 1, 2025.

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On April 17, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) announced that a severely diminished crew will administer and analyze the Nation’s Report Card (NAEP) as planned in 2026. According to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, “The Department will ensure that NAEP continues to provide invaluable data on learning across the U.S” and “The 2026 NAEP assessments in reading and math are on track for administration in January 2026.”

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According to a lawsuit filed in Maryland district court on April 16, 2025 by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE), “Dramatic, unreasoned, and unlawful actions” taken by the Trump administration to significantly downsize the U.S. Department of Education’s(USDE) Institute of Education Sciences (IES) are making it impossible to carry out education research. The lawsuit further avers that the funding and staffing cuts made to IES will hamper the institute’s ability to conduct impartial, high-quality research and share those findings with educators, researchers and policymakers, according to the federal lawsuit, which was filed in Maryland district court.

Another lawsuit that disputes IES shrinkage was previously filed by the Association for Education Finance and Policy and the Institute for Higher Education Policy on April 4th in federal court in Washington, D.C.

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A series of bills in Congress are aimed at closing the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). In the Senate, the Returning Education to Our States Act, outlines where each of the USDE’s responsibilities would be transferred. The bill also proposes to convert federal education funding into block grants, which it is claimed would give states more flexibility on how to spend federal fund. That bill is sponsored by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D). Under the bill the USDE would close one year after the bill’s enactment. Rounds has said that the bill would save $2.2 billion per year. Also in the Senate, S. 1148, simply says the USDE should be terminated on December 31, 2026.

In the House, H.R. 2456, The Orderly Liquidation of the Department of Education Act, sponsored by Rep Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), proposes an Office of Education within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which would include a director of education position. This would take things back to the pre-USDE days when an Office of Education resided within the old U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. In addition, mirroring S. 1148, H.R. 899 states that the USDE should be terminated on December 31, 2026.

Closing the USDE requires a Senate supermajority of 60 votes. For more from K-12 Dive, click here.