The Senate Appropriations Committee has advanced the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) appropriations bill. The bill, which includes funding for key education, workforce, and health programs, was approved by the committee with a 26-3 vote, and is now headed to the full Senate for consideration.
The bill allocates roughly $200 billion—similar to the previous year’s enacted funding, including $79 billion for the Department of Education, exceeding President Trump’s proposal by $12.3 billion. It emphasizes support for programs like Title I-A, IDEA Part B, the Rural Education Achievement Program, Head Start, and Career and Technical Education (CTE). Notably, the bill rejects proposed consolidations of K-12 grants.
The bill even responded to the recent funding freeze by including requirements for the Department of Education to make formula grants available to states and districts on time.
The Committee also approved its version of the FY26 Defense bill, which, although it does not mention explicitly funding of the World Language Advancement and Readiness Grants, does include budget increases for the Language Flagship Program and the Language Training Center.
The Senate bill proposes that most education programs receive near-level or level funding over last year and modest increases to Title I-A and IDEA funding. It incorporates language designed to protect the Department of Education from being dismantled, stating that it requires “the Department of Education maintain the staff necessary to ensure it carries out its statutory responsibilities, including carrying out programs and activities funded in this bill in a timely manner.” It also prohibits the Department from transferring “significant responsibilities related to carrying out title I, part A of the ESEA or parts B and C of the IDEA from the Department of Education to another department or agency.”
The bill proposes level funding for Title III-English Language Acquisition and Title I-C Migrant Education, most recently targeted for elimination in the President’s budget and subjects of the recently ended FY25 federal education funding freeze. The Legislative Report accompanying the bill makes specific mention the value of Title III and placed pressure on the Department to continue supporting all of the activities that the now disbanded Office of English Language Acquisition performed: “The Committee recognizes that every State has English language learners who rely on targeted instruction and dedicated programmatic support to access the curriculum and meet academic standards. The Committee notes the role that the former Office of English Language Acquisition played in managing the Native American and Alaska Native Children in Schools grants, National Professional Development grants, and the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition program as well as providing technical assistance to States and enforcing Title III requirements of the ESEA. The Committee intends for these activities to continue as the Department carries out its statutory responsibilities under ESEA with respect to English learner students and requests a briefing not later than 90 days after enactment on the Department’s implemented actions and plans to improve outcomes for English learners, which shall also include information on staffing levels and fulfillment of statutory requirements.”
The $2.19 billion professional development formula grant (Title II-A), and Title IV-A, the $1.38 billion flexible block grant, also received level funding. The President’s FY26 budget had proposed to consolidate these two programs with 16 other K-12 programs, and cut funds by 70%.
Federal education programs supporting Alaska Native Education, Native Hawaiian Education and Indian Education all received level funding. Under Indian Education’s National Activities line item, the bill’s Legislative Report allows more than 20% of funds to be used for Native American Language Immersion. The Legislative Report speaks highly of the value of Native American Language Resource Centers (NALRC), saying they are “integral to supporting the revitalization of such Native American languages, including by encouraging and supporting the use of Native American languages as a medium of instruction.”
The bill would cut $5.3 billion from Title VI of the Higher Education Act, which supports domestic programs and the Fulbright-Hays program. However, in its description of the domestic programs supported under Title VI, the Legislative Report states: “The Committee urges the Secretary to preserve the program’s longstanding focus on activities and institutions that address the Nation’s need for a strong training and research capacity in foreign languages and international studies, including increasing the pool of international experts in areas that are essential to national security and economic competitiveness.”
It is expected that the House’s version of the bill, which has not been introduced or marked-up, will look very different, so a final funding deal will be difficult to agree upon.