11. Department of Education · Notable · Needs Congress
Cut remaining ED formula grant programs by 10 percent
Printed page 361 11. Department of Education · abridged
“Remaining programs managed by the Department of Education, such as large formula grant programs for K–12 education, should be reduced by 10 percent. This would cut approximately 29 programs, most of which are discretionary spending. In total, this would generate approximately $8.8 billion in savings.”
What has happened
- Attempted
The FY2027 Budget asks for "K-12 Program Eliminations and Consolidations (–$8.5 billion)" — close to the $8.8 billion the Quote calculates, across twenty-nine programs as the Quote estimates, though again by consolidation and elimination rather than a proportional cut, and against a total discretionary request of $76.5 billion, down 2.9 percent. Congress moved the other way six weeks earlier, appropriating $19.1 billion for education for the disadvantaged and $5.8 billion for school improvement programs in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026.
- Attempted
The FY2026 Discretionary Budget Request asked Congress for a $4.535 billion reduction in K-12 programs, delivered by consolidating eighteen competitive and formula programs into a $2 billion formula grant while holding Title I harmless. A formal administration request, and so `attempted`; the mechanism is consolidation rather than the Quote's flat 10 percent cut across roughly 29 programs.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- Overlaps #918, which carries the competitive-grant half of the same two Budget requests; the two are kept apart because the Quote here is about what happens to the remaining formula programs once competitive grants are gone.
- Formula grants themselves were not cut in the window: the largest, Title I part A, was preserved in both Budget requests and increased by Congress.
- Action
- restrict
- Object
- Department of Education formula grant program funding
- ID
- 919