Education Secretary McMahon's Opening Remarks on FY26 Budget and Education Reform

Department of Education's Mission and FY26 Budget

• 🎯 The Department of Education's mission is to wind down the department responsibly, cut waste, and return education control to states, parents, and educators.
• 💰 The fiscal year 2026 budget aims to shrink federal bureaucracy, save taxpayer money, and empower states by reducing department funding by over 15%.
• ⚠️ Spending has been reviewed to eliminate programs not fulfilling public trust, including cutting overstaffing, old contracts, and suspending grants for illegal DEI programs.

Vision for American Education

• 🏫 The goal is to make American education great again by increasing accountability and local control, giving parents access to quality education, and fixing the broken higher education industry.
• ⚖️ Institutions will be held accountable for facilitating discriminatory or hostile environments, aiming for a level playing field with limitless opportunity.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The budget reflects a vision of cutting bureaucracy and smart spending to improve student achievement, not serve bureaucratic interests, by ending federal overreach and empowering families, schools, and states.

Addressing Educational Achievement Gaps

• 📉 The current state of education, marked by unacceptable NAEP report results and students falling behind, necessitates bold change and a refocus on core educational achievement.
• 📚 Key priorities include increasing school choice and focusing competitive grants on literacy, recognizing that reading proficiency by third grade is fundamental for all subsequent learning.
• 🗣️ The department advocates for a return to the science of reading, emphasizing phonics, understanding, and fluency to improve student outcomes.

Reforming the Education System

• 🏛️ Since its establishment in 1980, the Department of Education has spent over $3 trillion with stagnant or falling scores, indicating a need for significant change and a shakeup in approach.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The president is focused on ensuring children have the right to the best education, with parents deciding where their children attend school, whether private, charter, public, or homeschooling.
• 🤝 The belief is that parents, working with local educators, can develop programs that deliver the best results, emphasizing that the best education is closest to the child.