Tell Congress: Protect the U.S. Department of Education & Education Funding

I am reaching out to the U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s misguided and dangerous decision to move key K-12 and higher education programs to other federal agencies that have no experience or expertise in education.

Hurts, not helps, children.
Spreading the Department of Education’s functions across multiple agencies that lack the expertise and experience necessary to properly oversee education programs will hurt students and families. Students and families will not get the support and services they need and are legally entitled to receive, and our state and schools will lose access to valuable technical assistance and guidance they need to do their job.

Makes everyone’s jobs more difficult.
Rather than having one centralized location for states, districts, and other grantees and parents to look to for information about federal programs and services, they will now need to navigate multiple agencies to get critical information. This isn’t “returning education to the states,” it is plunging us into chaos and needless federal bureaucracy at a moment when time and resources should be spent focusing on students.

Threatens funding and services.
Transferring hundreds of millions of dollars to other agencies that know little about education will create bottlenecks that could disrupt funding designed to support students and families. Districts and schools rely on the federal government to deliver funding and services in a timely and reliable fashion. At a time when education funding is already tight, and the Department is canceling or delaying federal grants without notice across the country, these disruptions could eliminate student access to critical educational supports, such as before-and-after school programming, tutoring, mental health supports, and more.

You can help. Please protect us.
This is the exact opposite of President Trump’s vow to reduce the federal burden on school districts and states. As my Senator, I urge you to support all efforts to end this reckless experiment on our schools, students, families, and educators, and to support efforts to include language blocking these dangerous transfers in any final FY26 appropriations agreement. It is critical to the survival of your communities’ schools that we secure a strong federal budget that protects investments and rejects efforts to dismantle the Department.