Three Things to Know About the Senate’s IES Funding Proposal

Just before its August recess, the Senate passed a spending bill that signaled undeniable, bipartisan support for our nation’s federal education research and data infrastructure. The bill continues longstanding investment in the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the nation’s independent, nonpartisan research, evaluation, and statistics arm. IES is housed within the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and charged by Congress to collect and analyze statistics about our nation’s students, educators, schools and colleges. The Senate’s fiscal year 2026 funding bill, crafted by the Senate’s Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) subcommittee, continues robust funding for IES and includes clear directives about how appropriated funds must be used.  

Here are three things to know about the Senate’s proposed funding plan for IES.  

1) Rejects Trump Administration’s Proposed 67% Funding Cut to IES

Senate appropriators voted to maintain the fiscal year 2025 funding level, roughly $793 million. This departs from the President’s fiscal year 2026 IES budget request of only $261.3 million. In February, the Trump Administration canceled key contracts for federal research and data collections, then in March, initiated employee layoffs throughout the Education Department. At the time, the administration described the cuts as necessary for efficiency. By maintaining current funding levels, Senate appropriators are signaling the necessity of IES’s work.

2) Maintains Discrete Funding for the National Center for Education Statistics

Senate appropriators retained funding allocations for distinct activities and offices within IES, including the National Center for Education Statistics. NCES leads essential postsecondary data collections and studies including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS). The President’s budget proposal, on the other hand, did not request funding specific to NCES’s data collections and other essential research, including statewide data systems. By funding discrete activities and offices, the Senate makes crystal clear that NCES’s vital work must continue.  

3) Directs ED not to Reduce the Frequency of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study

The Senate affirmed its support for NPSAS by directing ED to maintain the study’s current collection frequency of every four years and, “to the extent practicable,” continue collecting administrative data in the two years between the full four-year data collection. NPSAS is a nationally representative study comprised of federal financial aid data, such as the amount and type of federal aid students receive, and information from institutions of higher education, including enrollment and completion data. The study also includes data from student surveys, such as students’ perceptions of their financial security while enrolled. Federal law requires NCES to administer NPSAS and federal lawmakers rely on the study for insights about how students pay for college, as well as students’ characteristics and other aspects of their college experiences. In early 2024, ED, then led by the Biden Administration, proposed shifting the NPSAS full-scale study from every four years to every six years and the administrative data collection from every two years to every three years. The Senate’s latest funding bill, again, directs ED to retain its current frequency and to report to Congress within 60 days of the law’s enactment about its plans for NPSAS administration to ensure the agency remains accountable for carrying out this directive.  

The Senate’s proposed fiscal year 2026 funding bill makes clear how much funding must be provided for our education data and research infrastructure. These investments matter because students and families need and deserve data to inform choices that shape whether and where to enroll in college. Colleges and employers also need data to better support students and align college offerings with workforce needs. And policymakers at state and federal levels depend on reliable data to support evidence-based decision-making. 

We are grateful to Senate Appropriations leaders, specifically Labor HHS-Education Subcommittee Chair Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Ranking Member Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) for their bipartisan leadership and continuing support for IES. Next up, the House of Representatives. We urge House appropriators to retain these funding levels for and directives to IES and pass these into law this fall.