Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Federal Education Funds topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Subcommittee hears federal-funding uncertainty: delayed Education Department award tables and staff cuts complicate state planning
Summary
Officials told the Senate subcommittee that final federal grant award tables remain delayed, the U.S. Department of Education has cut staff and reorganized regional offices, and California anticipates $8.2 billion in federal education funds in 2025–26 but faces uncertainty pending federal action.
State and department officials told the subcommittee that federal grant allocations for 2025–26 remain unsettled and that federal-level staffing and policy changes at the U.S. Department of Education are complicating state planning.
"The May Revision includes a total of $8,200,000,000 in federal funds for the California Department of Education in 2025–26," Patrick Rochelle of the Department of Finance told the committee, summarizing May Revision figures that the administration said include $194.5 million in state operations and $8 billion in local assistance.
Kimberly Rosenberg, California Department of Education, described a series of disruptions at the U.S. Department of Education that are affecting grant communications and grant-implementation support. She told the subcommittee that the Department of Education has enacted a 50% reduction in workforce and closed the regional office of civil rights in San Francisco without notice, removing a key liaison office for states.
CDE officials and the LAO said the federal funding tables that assign exact allocations to states — normally released by April — were delayed in 2025 while the Office of Management and Budget reviewed the tables and broader budget guidance. State officials said that several grants (Title I, Perkins, IDEA, school nutrition programs) have been notified or partially allocated, but the full set of funding tables still awaited federal release. Finance and CDE said they expect formal state allocations on July 1 but warned the delay is a planning challenge for LEAs.
Sun Bucks (formerly summer EBT) and other nutrition-related federal programs were discussed as timely examples. The LAO noted an estimate of $21.9 million tied to an assistance program (Sun Bucks) and said the May Revision lacked a finalized distribution formula for those funds.
On special education, CDE officials explained a technical reduction of about $4 million in the IDEA grant award — a roughly 0.3% change that the department described as demographic and population driven rather than a targeted program cut.
What this means: California school districts and the state education agency need the federal funding tables to finalize local planning and budget decisions. Federal delays, and the reported U.S. Department of Education staffing cuts and office closures, reduce the information flow state agencies rely on to manage federal grants and to advise districts.
The subcommittee asked Finance and CDE to continue updating the Legislature as federal decisions and award tables become available. No legislative action was taken at the hearing.
