A skinny budget and a starved education system
How billions in federal education cuts could reshape schools
Design by Milo Park
Milo Park, Features Editor
When hundreds of children arrive at an elementary school each morning, they don’t just find silent reading time and lessons on arithmetic throughout their day. They also find breakfast, tutoring, and school counselors who can give them academic guidance and social-emotional support. Extra programs like these, which are only possible through federal education grants, serve as lifelines for millions of students across the country. However, if the Trump administration’s new budget proposal to cut billions in education becomes reality, these support systems could disappear in an instant.
In May 2025, the Trump administration proposed $163 billion in cuts as part of a “skinny budget” plan for the 2026 fiscal year. The goal of this stripped-down spending plan was to lower the government deficit without weighing the potential effects on federal programs. These proposals outlined drastic reductions to countless federal research agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more. However, no other sector would face more devastating cuts than education.
Included in the plan is $12 billion in cuts to federal education programs in the 2026 fiscal year, a sweeping plan that would affect students from preschool through higher education. The proposal would eliminate entire categories of federal support, including $3.8 billion for programs serving English learners, migrant students, and families who rely on schools for healthcare and social services. It's even more concerning that the plan is also set to combine 18 funding streams into just one block grant (a lump-sum allocation that gives states broad discretion over how the money is spent), reducing the combined $6.5 billion budget by about 70%.
Currently, much of the funding from these 18 targeted programs goes toward after-school and summer learning programs, arts and technology classes, mental health services, and teacher training, all of which would receive little to no funding under the new budget plan. These essential supports, which provide the foundation for a thriving school environment, cannot be regarded as luxury add-ons. They are necessary services that assist students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and allow students to explore different passions and careers in school. Several advocates for education, teacher unions, and notable educators across the country have been voicing their concerns about this proposal, as these targeted investments are a known lifeline for millions of students. They also worry that the flexibility of block grants could allow states to prioritize other budget categories, leaving the most vulnerable students at risk.
The Trump administration frames the proposal as a beneficial simplification of funding and a method to grant states more flexibility, and officials argue that streamlining the process will make funding more efficient and matched with local needs. But for districts, it would really mean fewer dollars for programs that serve their most vulnerable populations. The Education Law Center and New York University’s Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and Transformation of Schools released an analysis showing that education across the nation will be widely affected.
The study used the Census Survey of School System Finances to estimate how much funding counties across all 50 states would lose. The numbers are absolutely staggering. Fulton County School District, for example, had an estimated loss of $8.5 million, which was one of the largest projected cuts in funding in the state of Georgia. To put things into perspective, the study states that this is equivalent to the salaries for 195 first-year teachers, 28,326 Chromebooks, or 4,279 afterschool program slots for K-12. That kind of loss shows just how high the stakes are for local schools and how much the budget cut would hurt them.
Beyond these surface-level impacts, the cuts also raise larger concerns about innovation in schools. Federal research programs like the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), which faces a proposed 67% budget cut, play a crucial role in helping educators know what works in classrooms and determine new strategies to teach children effectively. The IES helps fund research on everything from literacy promotion to college readiness programs, providing the scientific research for teachers to move forward with evidence-based education. With these new budget cuts, the foundation for evidence-based teaching and education would crumble, and education would rely on guesswork rather than proven practices.
The timing of these cuts is also worrying. As schools work to address the learning deficit from the COVID-19 pandemic and deal with rising mental health needs among students, federal funding and support have never been more important. Teachers have reported unprecedented amounts of stress and burnout, with data showing a 17% increase in teachers leaving their jobs in the second year of the pandemic, while students arrive at school carrying trauma and anxiety that can directly impact their ability to learn. The proposed cuts would eliminate resources like mental health services, after-school learning time, and teacher support that help address these challenges.
Simply put, education funding is more than just doing the bare minimum. It’s about creating environments where students from all backgrounds can thrive and where teachers have the tools and strategies they need to support students to the best of their ability. By cutting the very programs that support equity, innovation, and student well-being and success, the administration’s plan threatens to increase disparities in academic performance and leave the most vulnerable students behind.
The question now is this: what will we do about this unprecedented situation, which confronts us as students, teachers, parents, and American citizens? Students in the school system can’t wait until policies magically revert on themselves or for more convenient timing later on. They need advocates to contact their representatives, attend school board meetings, and demand that education stay a national priority, especially for younger students in their formative years. The choice is now ours: speak up now or watch as vital programs disappear, taking students’ future opportunities with them.
