Education Week

The U.S. Department of Education took roughly $1 billion Congress appropriated for specific education programs during the first months of President Donald Trump’s second term and either spent it differently than how lawmakers intended or hasn’t spent it at all, the agency acknowledged in recently published budget documents. That figure includes more than $700 million the agency says it shifted from one funding stream to another, and another $300 million expiring in five months for education research the administration hasn’t spent. Experts on federal education spending said they couldn’t recall any other time in recent decades when the executive branch adjusted congressionally approved program funding levels at all—let alone to this extent. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen an administration say, ‘We have tons of authority to make our own decisions about funding levels for programs,’” said Sarah Abernathy, who’s served for 10 years as executive director of the Committee for Education Funding, an advocacy coalition, and for 18 years before that as a U.S. House budget committee staffer.

In some cases, listed funding levels look miniscule compared with congressional appropriations. The Education Department lists $1 million for special education studies and evaluations, compared with lawmakers’ intended amount of $13 million. Instead of $245 million for the broad category of research, development, and dissemination, the Education Department and OMB agreed upon $79 million, the document says.

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