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Amid concerns about cuts to federal mental health grants and delays in information to districts about federal funding, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon is set to testify before a U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Wednesday, May 21, about President Donald Trump’s budget proposal, which would cut education funding by 15%.
According to McMahon’s prepared statement, Trump’s proposed budget prioritizes:
- Closing the U.S. Department of Education, state control, parents, and charter schools.
- Full funding for Title I to school districts for children from low-income families (Title I, Part A), and special education funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
- Efficiencies for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
- Aligning the Office of Civil Rights with the president’s agenda.
- School choice, while deferring to governors and state legislatures.
- Pell Grants for low-income students and Career and Technical Education grants.
The U.S. Department of Education’s discretionary grants also align with these priorities. In a Tuesday press release, McMahon said the competitive grants will focus on “evidence-based literacy, expanding education choice, and returning education to the states.”
You can watch McMahon’s testimony on the committee’s YouTube page.
Concerns about cuts to mental health
On May 9, more than 20 U.S. senators sent a letter to McMahon about cutting approximately $1 billion in federal mental health grants to help schools hire more psychologists, counselors, and other mental health workers.
On April 28, the department, the letter says, discontinued future funding for the Mental Health Services Professional Demonstration Grant (MHSP) and the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant (SBMH).
A recently released High Point University Poll “finds that adults in North Carolina and across the United States agree on the importance of mental health.”
Information about preliminary federal allocations delayed
According to another letter to McMahon, from U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Tammy Baldwin and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, school districts and states just received information about preliminary allocations based on the expected formula funding required to be provided to them under the fiscal year 2025 appropriations law on May 13.
“States and school districts are best able to plan to most effectively use federal funds with advance knowledge of expected funding, as Congress intends by providing funds on a forward-funded basis,” the letter says.
