Congress Rejected Deep Cuts to the Education Department: What Its 2026 Budget Funds
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Aug 04, 2026 • US Higher Ed News & Policy
Congress fully funded the Education Department at $79 billion for fiscal year 2026, about $217 million more than the year before, after the administration pushed to eliminate the agency. Federal aid programs students rely on keep operating even as the department shrinks in other ways.
💵 Trump signed the FY2026 education funding bill on February 3, 2026.
The bill funds the department at $79 billion, near level with FY2025.
Congress rejected the administration's push to end funding for programs like 21st Century Community Learning Centers.
The law does not block moving Education Department functions to other agencies, but requires biweekly reports to Congress on those moves.
Most existing K-12 and student aid programs keep level funding rather than facing the proposed cuts.
Congress funded the department Trump wanted to eliminate
President Trump signed a consolidated appropriations bill into law on February 3, 2026, funding the Education Department at $79 billion through September 30, 2026, about $217 million above fiscal year 2025 levels. Higher Ed Dive reported the bill passed the House by a narrow 217-214 vote as part of a package that also funded Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, and other agencies.
The outcome runs against the administration's earlier push to dismantle the department through executive action and steep proposed cuts. Instead of the roughly 15 percent reduction the administration's FY2026 budget request sought, Congress kept funding for existing programs largely level, a signal that lawmakers in both parties still want the agency's core functions to continue operating even while the administration reorganizes it around the edges.
What the bill protects
The legislation maintains level funding for virtually every existing K-12 program rather than cutting or consolidating them. K-12 Dive reported that lawmakers specifically rejected the administration's proposal to end dedicated funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, an afterschool and summer program that keeps its $1.3 billion allocation, unchanged since FY2022. The bill text also protects mental health support and special education services funded through the department.
The law requires the Education Department to keep on-time formula grant funding flowing to states and districts at the levels Congress set, and it requires the department to maintain adequate staff to carry out its statutory responsibilities. For a student or family, that means the grant programs your school district and state depend on stay funded at familiar levels this year.
What the budget does not stop
Full funding does not block the administration from moving Education Department functions to other federal agencies through interagency agreements, the kind of moves already underway for special education oversight and student loan servicing. The bill requires the agencies involved to send Congress biweekly reports on how those transfers are going, giving lawmakers an ongoing check on the process even though funding alone cannot fully block it.
What this means if you rely on federal student aid
A funded department keeps processing FAFSA applications, disbursing Pell Grants, and running the loan and grant programs you depend on for now. The budget fight was about whether the agency exists at current staffing and funding levels, not about ending these programs outright. Watch future appropriations cycles and the biweekly interagency reports, since the administration's underlying push to shrink the department has not stopped, only slowed.