While it seems like news out of the federal government is changing daily, there have been a few recent updates of particular interest to California and K-12 schools that we wanted to highlight.

Trump threatens to cut California’s federal funding as tensions escalate with the state

With President Trump and Governor Newsom clashing over the use of the National Guard in Los Angeles, the Trump Administration is once again floating threats of cutting California’s education grants that come as “formula funds” predetermined by Congress. This threat is the second in as many weeks by the President to reduce California’s federal funding for failure to fall in line with his federal policy priorities. At the end of May, President Trump had also threatened to hold back federal funding from California if it continued to allow transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports. The legality of such a move is certainly questionable but could have significant impacts on not only school budgets, but the state’s budget as well, as the state likely does not have the resources to backfill a substantial loss of federal funding.

These growing tensions come as the U.S. Department of Education has released additional details regarding President Trump’s proposed education budget for federal fiscal year (FFY) 2026, which starts October 1. The President’s 2026 budget proposal will likely not be finalized by Congress until after the “One Big Beautiful Bill” is resolved, which aims to enact trillions of dollars in cuts over the next decade, extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts (with some changes), and raise the National debt limit through the process of reconciliation (by majority vote). We don’t expect Congress and the President to resolve the “Big Beautiful Bill” until mid-to-late Summer. That said, we want to make sure you are aware of what is being proposed by the President for FFY 2026.

President Trump’s FFY 2026 Education Budget

The President’s budget proposal eliminates and makes significant reductions to many federal K-12 education programs. This includes the consolidation of approximately $6.5 billion of current programs into a block grant that would be reduced to $2 billion (a 69% reduction) while potentially still leaving most of the current accountability requirements in place. While the president would leave Title I-Part A at current funding levels, it eliminates all other Title I funding. Additionally, the President proposes to essentially hold IDEA funding even while combining several aspects of the program with other smaller programs. He would also eliminate 12 other programs, including Adult Education, Migrant Ed, English Acquisition, and various teacher grants, among others.

Below we provide additional detail and analysis on the various aspects of the President’s proposal.

Total USDOE Funding

The President’s FFY 2026 Budget Request (Request) would provide $66.7 billion in total education funding. This represents a $12.4 billion, or 15.6%, reduction in funding compared to FFY 2024 levels. This level of reduction is similar to the House Appropriations’ proposed cuts last year, when they looked to reduce USDOE funding to $67.5 billion. While that steep of a cut was deemed too extreme a year ago, Congress and the surrounding political climate have since changed. Still, it is unlikely, given its current make-up, that the Senate would be able to get the necessary 60 votes to approve this level of reduced funding.

Title I

While the President’s Request does keep funding for Title I-Part A at FFY 2024 levels ($18.4 billion), it would also eliminate all other Title I grants. This would represent a $701 million, or 4%, reduction in overall Title I funding.

K-12 Simplified Funding Program (SFP)

President Trump is proposing to consolidate 18 K-12 programs into a single $2 billion block grant, entitled the K-12 Simplified Funding Program. Described by the Administration as a way to give states and LEAs the “flexibility to deploy these resources in a manner consistent with the needs of their communities,” the consolidation would amount to an overall $4.5 billion, or 69%, reduction in funding for those programs compared to FFY 2024.

#	Consolidated Program	FFY 2024 Funding Level
1	Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants (Title II-A)	$2.19 billion
2	Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants	$1.38 billion
3	21st Century Community Learning Centers	$1.33 billion
4	State Assessments	$380 million
5	Rural Education	$220 million
6	Student Safety National Activities	$216 million
7	Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant	$194 million
8	Magnet Schools Assistance	$139 million
9	Education for Homeless Children and Youths	$129 million
10	Promise Neighborhoods	$91 million
11	Neglected, Delinquent, and At-Risk Children and Youth	$49.2 million
12	Native Hawaiian Education	$45.9 million
13	Alaska Native Education	$45 million
15	Arts in Education	$36.5 million
15	Innovative Approaches to Literacy	$30 million
16	American History and Civics Education	$23 million
17	Statewide Family Engagement Centers	$20 million
18	Javits Gifted and Talented Education	$16.5 million
Total funding consolidated into the $2 billion K-12 SFP:		$6.53 billion

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

The President’s Request provides $14.89 billion, an increase of $677.5 million over FFY 2024, for the IDEA Grants to States Program. However, this does not appear to be an actual “increase in IDEA funding,” as the additional funding is tied to the President’s intent to consolidate 6 other IDEA-funded programs into the Grants to States Program. Under this proposal, the Grants for States Program would now combine IDEA Part B formula grants programs and IDEA Part D competitive grant programs into a single State formula grant program. However, unlike with the K-12 Simplified Funding Program, it looks like the President would increase funding for the “new” Grants to State Program in an amount roughly equal to what the 6 consolidated programs were funded at in FFY 2024:

#	Consolidated Program	FFY 2024 Funding Level
1	Preschool Grants	$420 million
2	Personnel Preparation	$115 million
3	Technical Assistance and Dissemination	$39.4 million
4	State Personnel Development	$38.6 million
5	Parent Information Centers	$33.2 million
6	Educational Technology, Media, and Materials	$31.4 million
TOTAL FUNDING CONSOLIDATED:		$677.6 million

While IDEA funding would receive a slight increase compared to prior year funding levels, it still means the federal government would only be funding 11% of their obligation (compared to the 40% it had promised when IDEA was first enacted). Outside of the consolidation proposal, the Request would still keep the Grants for Infants and Families ($540 million) and the Special Olympics ($36 million) as standalone programs, funded at the same levels as FFY 2024.

Eliminated Programs

The Request proposes the elimination of the following programs, for a total reduction in USDOE funding of $4.13 billion:

• Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants (Title II-A)($2.19 billion)
• English Language Acquisition ($890 million)
• Adult Education State Grants ($715.5 million)
• Migrant Education ($375.6 million)
• Education Innovation and Research ($259 million)
• Full-Service Community Schools ($150 million)
• Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED)($90 million)
• Teacher and School Leader Incentive Grants ($60 million)
• Special Programs for Migrant Students ($52.1 million)
• Comprehensive Centers ($50 million)
• Ready to Learn Program ($31 million)
• Training and Advisory Services ($6.6 million)

The USDOE provides various justifications for the proposed eliminations, from saying that the elimination of a program “is part of the Administration’s overall effort to restore fiscal discipline and reduce the Federal role in education,” to arguing that, “States and localities, not the Federal government, are best suited to determine whether to support the activities authorized under this program or similar activities within their own budgets and without unnecessary administrative burden imposed by the Federal government.”

Congressional Response

With more detail now out regarding the President’s Budget Request, focus shifts to Congress and their response to the Request. Last week, both the House Committee on Education and Workforce and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies held hearings to do an initial review of the President’s Budget Request. During the hearings, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon defended the President’s proposed cuts to education, stating that there was a need to consolidate grant programs and eliminate bureaucratic waste and that the cuts were a strategic effort to, in part, streamline the USDOE and return control to states.

Discussions during both hearings focused predominately on the President’s higher education proposals and largely followed party lines. With regards to the K-12 proposals, Republican members expressed support for increased local control over education funding while Democrats were concerned about staffing at the USDOE and the need for federal oversight to prevent misuse of funds.

This week, the House Appropriations Committee has released interim suballocations for just the four FFY 2026 appropriations bills that are scheduled for markup by the full committee this week: Agriculture, Defense, Homeland Security, and Military Construction-VA. The Committee has reportedly not reached agreement on funding for the other bills, including for Labor, HHS, and Education, and could be looking for even bigger cuts in the other bills than those included in the President’s FFY 2026 Request. Since Congress has not yet adopted a budget resolution for FFY 2026, these interim suballocations allow the House to get a head start marking-up 4 of the 12 appropriations bills while it waits for an updated Congressional Budget Office budget baseline number, which has been delayed because the Presidents FFY 2026 Request was delayed. The House notes that this approach will put the Committee “in the best possible position to report all fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills to the floor of the House of Representatives under regular order.”

Note that in years where a budget is unable to be passed before the start of the new federal fiscal year on October 1, which has consistently been the case in recent years, a continuing resolution is usually agreed to, which typically keeps funding at prior year levels. The upcoming FFY 2026 budget will require passage in the Senate, where it is subject to a 60-vote threshold. This means that Senate Republicans will need at least seven Democrats to vote for whatever agreement is reached, making the path to passage steep for them, particularly with Midterms coming up next year. Due to these dynamics, it’s within the realm of possibility that we again end up with a continuing resolution at current funding levels.