Charter school funding would increase, with massive reductions or elimination of other programs
Posted: May 6, 2025
The Trump Administration released its proposed “skinny budget” Friday, which includes deep and harmful cuts to education funding, slashing $12 billion or roughly 15% of the U.S. Department of Education’s budget.
In response, National Education Association President Becky Pringle said, “For too long, parents, educators and students have pleaded with elected leaders to fulfill their promise to every student and provide the resources that give them every opportunity to thrive. And for too long, our leaders have failed us — this is yet another example.
“As we approach Teacher Appreciation Week, instead of praising teachers for all they do, this budget is an insult to educators, students and parents. Rather than investing in opportunity and equity, this proposal advances a harmful agenda that eliminates essential programs millions of Americans rely on every day,” Pringle said.
According to the NEA’s analysis, Trump’s budget proposal says it will preserve funding for Title I, which provides federal financial assistance to school districts for children from low-income families. However, it combines Title I into a block grant with 18 additional programs, and reduces those combined funds by $4.535 billion. The remaining grant would be funded at $2 billion. The fund is called the K-12 simplified funding program, and the programs in this consolidated fund are not listed.
Funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) would remain at current levels, and all seven IDEA programs would be combined into a single fund. However, flat funding at 13% still falls short of the federal commitment to fully fund IDEA at 40%, the NEA said.
Trump’s budget plan also allocates $500 million, a $60 million increase, to expand the number of charter schools. Charter schools were the only education line item to receive an increase.
The budget eliminates $890 million in funding for English Language Acquisition (Title III) and $70 million that funded the Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP).
Mary Kusler, senior director of NEA’s Center for Advocacy and Political Action, said those cuts are “concerning because TQP is a program aimed at addressing the teacher shortage through deep clinical practice to ensure that educators are prepared to meet student needs.”
In the higher education accounts, the budget eliminates $1.5 billion worth of college preparation programs, such as TRIO and GEAR Up, and cuts work-study and supplemental educational opportunity grants. The focus of the higher education portion of the budget is on shifting costs to states and institutions of higher education and reducing the federal investment as much as possible.
In the early education accounts, the budget eliminates the Preschool Development Grant but does not mention Head Start. In the workforce development accounts, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) program, a federal initiative designed to help job seekers access employment, education, training, and support services, appears to be consolidated into a larger grant program, while adult education is completely eliminated.
The Trump budget proposal also includes $49 million worth of cuts to the U.S. DOE’s Office of Civil Rights.
Pringle, the NEA president, added: “We demand that our elected leaders stand up for what truly matters — protecting critical public services for students and rejecting massive giveaways to billionaires like Elon Musk. Our students deserve the investment, and the American people deserve leaders who prioritize their well-being over the wealth of a few.”
Even Republicans are alarmed by Trump’s proposed massive cuts
Trump is seeking massive, unprecedented funding cuts across the federal government, unveiling a budget blueprint asking Congress to slash non-defense programs by more than $163 billion while keeping military funding flat. Already, Republicans in Congress are alarmed, Politico reported.
The proposal released Friday pressures Republican lawmakers to cleave more than 20 percent from federal coffers that Trump has already been freezing without their approval since Inauguration Day. Congress isn’t accustomed to cutting anywhere near what Trump is proposing, amplifying tension between the White House and congressional Republicans as GOP leadership works to fund the government before the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline.
Key Hill Republicans were quick to pan the White House’s plan. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) publicly objected to the administration’s request to keep the military funded at about $893 billion, while criticizing Trump’s proposed cuts to biomedical research, education support programs for low-income households and subsidies to help the poorest Americans cover the cost of heating and cooling their homes.
Noting that the budget was “late” and lacks “key details,” Collins voiced “serious objections to the proposed freeze in our defense funding given the security challenges we face,” as well as the White House’s proposed cuts “and in some cases elimination” of non-defense programs, according to Politico.
Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), who is now chair of the Senate’s defense funding panel, slammed the White House budget office for asking Congress to keep defense spending static for the upcoming fiscal year, saying in a statement that the extra cash Republican leaders are hoping to pour on through the tax and spending megabill they are hoping to enact this summer is “not a substitute for full-year appropriations,” Politico said.
See Trump’s entire fiscal year 2026 budget request | Read the budget request overview