Committee on Appropriations
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative:
On behalf of our 3 million members and the 50 million students they serve, we urge you to oppose the cuts in education funding in the fiscal year 2027 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. Votes on this issue may be included in NEA’s report card for the 119th Congress.
The proposed 10 percent reduction in Department of Education funding reflects profoundly misplaced priorities and a blatant disregard for the needs of our students. Nothing is more important than our children—to their loved ones and our nation as a whole. Today’s students are America’s future leaders and workforce. Depriving them of opportunities is not just shortsighted, it is morally bankrupt.
In particular, we oppose the reduction in Title I funding and the complete elimination of funding for teacher training and full-service community schools. We also decry the abandonment of college students and low-income workers striving to improve their lives through postsecondary education—specifically, the increase in interest rates for certain student loans, the reduction in federal support for need-based financial aid, and the elimination of job training programs.
States would be hit hard as well. Nearly all are required by law to balance their budgets, and many are already struggling to make ends meet due to diminished federal support—the result of the deep cuts in Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) made by H.R. 1, the reconciliation bill passed last summer. Further cuts in education funding would leave states facing a Hobbesian choice with no good alternative: slashing student services—including some mandated by federal law—or limiting access to healthcare and food assistance even more.
Children and families should not be forced to pay the price for misguided policy decisions. The public schools that educate 9 out of 10 students are the foundation of our democracy. At a time when students are facing academic, social, and economic challenges, Congress should strengthen public education, not weaken it through harmful funding cuts. We urge you to reject the cuts in the FY27 appropriations bill and invest instead in helping every student succeed.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Johnson Trinca
Director of Government Relations
National Education Association
