Lawmakers maintain support for Institute of Education Sciences in latest federal funding package

The latest federal funding package bodes well for our nation’s federal education data and research infrastructure. The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the backbone of education research, evaluation and statistics, will receive roughly $790 million in funding for fiscal year 2026. President Trump signed the 2026 federal appropriations bill into law on Tuesday.  

IES, housed within the U.S. Department of Education, collects and analyzes statistics about our nation’s students, educators and colleges. Data and insights produced by IES help us and other evidence-driven researchers better understand how students access, afford and make progress toward a college degree or credential. But within the last year, IES has seen significant staffing reductions and studies vital for understanding students’ experiences have been stalled or canceled outright. The contract cancellations first initiated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last February alarmed researchers and policymakers alike.  

The latest funding for IES and provisions included in the overall appropriations law place the division on surer footing. Here are IHEP’s key takeaways from the plan.   

1) A bipartisan commitment to an education evidence base

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in the Senate and House stabilized funding for IES, signaling a shared recognition of its critical role in fostering a robust federal education data infrastructure. The $790 million included in this funding package is slightly less (0.4 percent) than the fiscal year 2024 enacted levels, which were carried forward into 2025. This departs from the White House’s proposal to cut IES funding to $261.3 million, a roughly 67 percent decrease.

Congressional appropriators also sustained funding for data collections and studies at roughly $122 million, consistent with prior fiscal years. The plan rejects the Trump Administration’s proposal to eliminate the “Statistics” budget line item, which supports postsecondary education data collections such as the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Continued federal investments in postsecondary education data collection are essential to maintaining high-quality, comprehensive, and comparable information on students.  

NPSAS is the only large-scale, nationally representative study that pairs student interviews with administrative data, providing crucial insights into how students pay for college. IPEDS supports major consumer information tools like the College Scorecard, allowing students and families to compare costs, graduation rates, and post-college outcomes across institutions nationwide.  

We still urge the Department of Education to reinstate the Beginning Postsecondary Students longitudinal study (BPS) and publish the data that have already been collected. BPS is critical for tracking and understanding student outcomes during and after postsecondary education. We also recommend the creation of a new longitudinal study of program completers, not limited to bachelor’s degree recipients, to replace the discontinued Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B).  

2) Funding cannot be transferred to other federal agencies

The latest federal appropriations package also includes language noting that Department of Education funds cannot be moved to other federal agencies unless approved by Congress, a clear reassertion of Congressional authority over agency funding. This funding directive will help ensure resources meant for the Education Department stay within the agency.

3) IES must be staffed properly to perform its duties

Lawmakers noted that the Education Department is required to, “support staffing levels necessary for IES and the National Center for Education Statistics [NCES] to fulfill their statutory responsibilities.” This provision adds welcome stability to a division that experienced significant staffing reductions and contract cuts within the past year. Before DOGE initiated staffing cuts last March, roughly 100 education data and research professionals were employed within NCES. That number was eventually reduced to just three employees. As of today, only 11 professionals work within the division.  

We’re grateful to appropriations leaders in the House, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chair Robert Aderholt (R-AL) and Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and in the Senate, Subcommittee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Ranking Member Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), for their continued bipartisan support for our nation’s education research and data infrastructure.

We look forward to the Trump Administration heeding the directives outlined by Congress.