Budget Alert: Federal Education Budget
- Pati Ortiz
- Jul 2
- 2 min read
#BUDGETALERT from Capitol Advisors:
"Late yesterday we learned about very troubling action by the U.S. Department of Education, informing states that they will not be receiving $6.9 billion in enacted state grant funding for THIS year, which will create havoc across school districts and county offices counting on these funds that were part of the enacted FY 2025 authorization by Congress and signed by President Trump in March. For California schools, the potential loss of funding expected for the coming school year (and typically already accounted for in recently adopted budgets) amounts to more than $800 million.
In two brief letters sent to the California Department of Education along with other states – the U.S. Department of Education stated, “Given the change in Administrations, the Department is reviewing the FY 2025 funding for the [Title I-C, II-A, III-A, IV-A, IV-B] grant program(s), and decisions have not yet been made concerning submissions and awards for this upcoming academic year. Accordingly, the Department will not be issuing Grant Award Notifications obligating funds for these programs on July 1 prior to completing that review. The Department remains committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President’s priorities and the Department’s statutory responsibilities.”
The impact of this action will be to withhold a total of $6.88 billion of fiscal year (FY) 2025 state grant funds for adult education and five elementary and secondary education programs. The funding being withheld is:
$376 million for Title I-C migrant education state grants
$890 million for Title III-A English language acquisition grants
$1.33 billion for Title IV-B 21st century community learning centers
$1.38 billion for Title IV-A student support and academic achievement grants
$2.190 billion for Title II-A supporting effective instruction state grants
$715 million for adult education state grants
We did not anticipate that funding for these programs would be in jeopardy for the current 2025 fiscal year, given the authorization by Congress and President Trump earlier this year. In fact, the money was expected bythe states today, July 1. While all of the impacted programs are targets of elimination or consolidation in the President’s FY 2026 budget proposal, there is little question that this action is illegal and will be immediately challenged. A recent Supreme Court decision limiting nationwide injunctions will present new legal hurdles and probably require California to independently litigate this issue. We have been in touch with the Governor’s office and will continue to advise on legislative and advocacy strategy."
Comments