House Republicans want to cut the Department of Education’s budget by $12 billion, which is a 15% drop from the previous year. House GOP Plans 15% Cut: President Trump’s goal is to cut the size of the Department while keeping some of his other priorities, like grants for training workers. House GOP Plans 15% Cut
The House Appropriations Committee (PDF File) put out the proposal, which would give the agency $67 billion. Here is a PDF file that shows a summary of the bill’s text.
House Republicans will keep the maximum Pell Grant at $7,395, just like they did with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). But other important financial assistance programs are being cut, such as the Federal Work Study and the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG). House GOP Plans 15% Cut
Financial Aid Programs Targeted For Cuts
Even with the Pell Grant programme preserved, the proposal would slash or eliminate other programmes. House GOP Plans 15% Cut
The Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, which provided $910 million in need-based aid last year, would be eliminated entirely. Federal Work-Study would be reduced to $779 million, $451 million below current levels, limiting the availability of part-time jobs for students.
The plan also cuts funding for the Office for Civil Rights, which enforces anti-discrimination policies on campuses, reducing its budget by $49 million. Teacher training grants, campus childcare programs, and support for foreign language instruction would also be zeroed out. House GOP Plans 15% Cut
Programs That Would Be Expanded
Not every initiative faces a cut. Funding would be maintained for TRIO and GEAR UP, two longstanding college access programs that help first-generation and low-income students. These programs had been targeted for elimination under the administration’s earlier plan but remain in the House version after bipartisan pushback. House GOP Plans 15% Cut
The budget also includes modest increases for charter schools, career and technical education state grants, and special education services, as well as dedicated support for schools serving students with disabilities such as Gallaudet University and the American Printing House for the Blind. House GOP Plans 15% Cut
A symbolic change is also included: renaming Workforce Pell Grants as “Trump Grants” to highlight the administration’s focus on workforce preparation. The renamed grants would support training programmes as short as eight weeks. House GOP Plans 15% Cut
What Happens Next
It’s important to remember that this is just the first proposal. While a budget needs to be passed by October 1 to avoid a government shutdown, this bill still needs to go the full House and Senate. Like we recently saw with the OBBBA, there could be multiple changes before it passes. House GOP Plans 15% Cut
The Senate Appropriations Committee has already mentioned keeping the Department of Education’s budget close to current levels at $79 billion. Its plan preserves funding for Federal Work-Study, the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, the Office for Civil Rights, and teacher training initiatives. House GOP Plans 15% Cut
The split sets up a contentious negotiation between the chambers. House GOP Plans 15% Cut
Lawmakers face an October 1 deadline to either pass a budget or adopt a stopgap measure to avoid a government shutdown. House GOP Plans 15% Cut