May 2025

On May 2, the Trump administration released an outline of the president’s FY 2026 budget request. This “skinny budget” does not provide the full detail across agencies that is typically included in presidential budget proposals.

The skinny budget does not mention the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), though it includes an overall cut of 15.3 percent to the Department of Education. Several programs, including the Federal TRIO Programs, Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), and Teacher Quality Partnerships, would be eliminated under this proposal.

The FY 2026 budget outline includes a 58.5 percent cut to the National Science Foundation (NSF), with a proposed decrease of $3.5 billion for General Research and Education and $1.1 billion for Broadening Participation, compared to FY 2025 funding. In an accompanying fact sheet, “Cuts to Woke Programs,” the administration states, “NSF no longer funds speculative research on impacts from extreme climate scenarios and niche social studies.”

The budget proposal also includes a significant cut of nearly $18 billion to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), leaving $27 billion for NIH for FY 2026. The outline also includes a proposed reorganization of NIH that would consolidate its 29 institutes into five: the National Institute on Body Systems Research, National Institute on Neuroscience and Brain Research, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institute of Disability Related Research, and National Institute on Behavioral Health. The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health would continue to operate within NIH.

Additional details are expected to be released in the full budget request in June, much later in the process than is typical even for a new administration. In the meantime, administration leaders are testifying before key appropriations and authorizing committees. On May 15, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

On May 21, Education Secretary Linda McMahon testified before the House Appropriations LHHS Subcommittee. In written testimony, she detailed the efforts taken to cancel and renegotiate contracts at IES. “This is part of our plan to reimagine IES as a more effective and efficient research organization,” she wrote, “one that delivers resources and best practices directly to teachers to improve student learning outcomes.”