House Panel Advanced Bill Cutting Education Department Funding by 10% for FY 2027

A spending bill approved in June by the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee would cut funding for the U.S. Department of Education by 10% in fiscal year 2027, reducing support for low-income schools while modestly increasing special education spending.

The measure, which now heads to the full House, recommends $71 billion for the Education Department, down from $79 billion this fiscal year. That funding level falls even below President Donald Trump’s own budget request of $76.5 billion for the agency. Still, the committee rejected a separate Trump administration proposal to eliminate and consolidate several national programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including teacher training and technical assistance efforts.

For K-12 programs specifically, the legislation proposes $40.2 billion, a $4.6 billion reduction from fiscal year 2026, according to the committee’s Democrats.

The bill also funds the U.S. Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, said the legislation strikes “a balance between fiscal stewardship and maintaining necessary investments,” including for student supports. Pointing to the nation’s $40 trillion debt, Aderholt said, “We would be foolish to ignore discretionary spending reductions as part of the answer.”

Democrats offered a starkly different assessment. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the Appropriations Committee’s ranking member, said the bill “undermines education,” warning that its proposed cut to Title I funding for low-income schools would result in 30,000 fewer teachers nationwide.

“These cuts are an attempt to undo the progress we have made, to cut off access to these opportunities,” DeLauro said. “It is a step down the path toward eliminating public education.”

Where the Cuts and Increases Would Land

For specific K-12 programs, the bill recommends:

• $16.5 billion for Title I funding for low-income schools and districts — a decrease of nearly $2 billion from fiscal year 2026.
• $15.5 billion for special education programs under IDEA — an increase of $46 million.
• Elimination of funding for the Office of English Language Acquisition, which received $890 million in FY26.
• $500 million for charter schools — a $60 million increase.
• $1.5 billion for career and technical education state grants — an increase of $10 million.
• $40 million for the Innovative Approaches to Literacy program — a $10 million increase.
• Level funding of $1.3 billion for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which supports after-school and summer programs.

Outside of K-12, the bill would fund Head Start, which serves children up to age 5 from low-income families and is overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services, at $12.4 billion, about $10 million above the FY26 level. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights would receive level funding of $140 million, which is $50 million more than Trump had proposed.

A Bipartisan Push on Reading

Amid the partisan divide over the broader spending picture, one provision drew support from both sides of the aisle: a proposal to reinstate the National Reading Panel. The panel was originally convened in 1997 and completed its work in 2000, when it delivered a report to Congress on effective methods for teaching children to read.

Under the new bill, the reconstituted panel would again evaluate the effectiveness of various reading-instruction approaches and report its findings to Congress and to the Education and Health and Human Services departments. As before, its members would include reading researchers, representatives from colleges of education, reading teachers, administrators and parents.

Democrats Frame Bill as Broader Attack

House Democrats characterized the legislation as extending well beyond education. In materials released by committee Democrats, they described the bill as an “extreme” funding measure that “is an assault on education and job training, puts health coverage for millions of Americans at risk, and abandons ongoing public health crises.”

Among the concerns Democrats raised:

• The bill would cancel $2 billion for operating Affordable Care Act health insurance plans, which Democrats say threatens the ACA marketplace.
• It would raise interest rates for roughly 5 million college student borrowers, cut need-based financial aid funding, and eliminate job training programs.
• It would cut funding for low-income K-12 students, eliminate teacher training funding, and end funding for community schools.
• It would eliminate funding for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and cut nearly $1 billion from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund.
• It would cut programs supporting maternal and child health and access to contraception, while adding riders related to abortion and reproductive health.
• It would cut HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment funding at the CDC and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, along with funding for mental health services and substance use prevention and treatment.

In her opening remarks on the bill, DeLauro tied the funding fight to broader affordability concerns. “Americans are struggling to afford everything from gasoline to groceries; from utilities to health insurance; from mortgage payments to medical bills,” she said. “But instead of doing anything to address the affordability crisis- which is a real crisis, it is not a hoax or a con job as the president claims- this bill makes the problem even worse.”

She also connected the cuts to the administration’s defense spending priorities: “The president said we do not have money for day care, for Medicare, for Medicaid, because, quote, ‘we are fighting wars.’ The president wants to increase the Defense budget by half a trillion dollars. Meanwhile, this bill cuts funding for education, public health, reproductive health, and job training.”

On job training specifically, DeLauro said the bill “cuts $8 billion (10 percent) from the Department of Education. That includes a $2 billion cut to Title I grants, which will push tens of thousands of teachers out of their classrooms, and leave countless children with a worse education.” She added that the bill “eviscerates funding for employment and training programs by $3.3 billion, one-third below the 2026 level,” eliminating adult and youth job training funding entirely and cutting Job Corps funding in half.

The bill now moves to the full House for consideration.

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