Trump proposes cutting Dept. of Ed. budget by 15%

President Donald Trump is following through on his executive order to reduce spending for the U.S. Department of Education.

The department’s 2026 proposed budget calls for a 15% reduction in funding, according to the U.S. Department of Education Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Summary.

The budget request asks for $66.7 billion in spending, which would be a $12 billion (15.3%) reduction “below the fiscal year 2025 appropriation,” according to the summary.

The request “reflects an agency that is responsibly winding down,” the summary reads. “Our goal is clear: to make education better, fairer, and more accountable by ending Federal overreach and empowering families, schools, and States who best know the needs of their students.” 

National Public Radio reporter Corey Turner wrote on June 2 that the proposed budget cut shows the president still plans to close the department, but Turner did note that “the dismantling of the agency will be a marathon, not a sprint.” 

NPR said that Title I-A funding, which supports school districts where poverty is the most prevalent, isn’t going anywhere. 

Other areas that would be cut or consolidated would be teacher training, at-risk students, literacy instruction, rural schools, arts education, school safety and students experiencing homelessness. 

The budget summary “recommends combining them all into one grant,” according to NPR. But under the new program, states and localities would have the “flexibility” to use the funding to meet their own communities’ needs, according to the summary.  

Funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Act, or IDEA, would be increased to $14.9 billion, and some separate IDEA programs would be rolled into that funding. 

Federal Pell Grants would also be cut from around $7,400 to $5,700 each, which the budget summary said was due to an “untenable shortfall” of funds for the grants. Congress continued to raise the grant’s maximum award while not providing sufficient funding, and continuing this pattern showed “chronic mismanagement.” 

The budget’s summary statement includes remarks made by Trump when he signed the executive order, noting that “when President Carter created the federal Education Department in 1979, it was opposed by members of his own cabinet as well as the American Federation of Teachers, the New York Times editorial board and the famed Democrat Senator, Daniel Patrick Moynihan. History has proven them right, absolutely right. 

“After 45 years, the United States spends more money on education by far than any other country and spends likewise by far more money per pupil than any country. And it’s not even close, but yet we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success. … But we’re going to be returning education very simply back to the states where it belongs. And this is a very popular thing to do, but much more importantly, it’s a commonsense thing to do and it’s going to work.”