U.S. 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 support the Labor-HHS-Education portion of the FY2026 funding package. Votes on this issue may be included in NEA’s report card for the 119th Congress.
The bill provides level or near-level funding for critical Department of Education programs, including Title I, the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), and full-service community schools. It also continues to prohibit transferring funding to other federal agencies and includes provisions to ensure that funding is used as Congress intends.
While we support the bill and the inclusion of prohibition language, we urge Congress to affirm its power of the purse by strengthening the guardrails governing use of appropriated funds. The lack of stronger guardrails seriously threatens the Department of Education’s ability to carry out its statutory responsibilities.
The Trump administration is dismantling the Department of Education piece by piece, moving education programs to agencies with neither the expertise nor the staffing to handle them. These unprecedented and illegal steps threaten to send class sizes soaring, limit learning opportunities, and make post-secondary education even less attainable.
Public education is not optional, and it is not expendable. It is a fundamental right and a public good that underpins our democracy. The public schools that educate 9 out of 10 students in America are essential to the nation’s economic strength, civic health, and future prosperity.
While we support the FY 2026 Labor-HHS-Education funding bill, we also call on Congress to act decisively and protect the Department of Education and the students and educators who depend on it.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Johnson Trinca
Director of Government Relations
National Education Association
