The Education Department’s Research Arm is Under Threat

The Institute of Education Sciences, the Education Department’s nonpartisan research arm faces a proposed 37.5% budget cut under a House funding plan. The Trump administration had actually sought an even deeper 67% cut, arguing IES hadn’t delivered sufficient returns given declining National Assessment of Educational Progress scores since 2013. Education advocates counter that recent NAEP results showing little improvement in reading and math support increasing research funding, rather than scaling back. IES has already lost most of its staff, shrinking from 186 employees to just 30 since the start of the second Trump administration, prompting a bipartisan group of lawmakers to urge Education Secretary Linda McMahon to release nearly $290 million in funding before it expires at the end of September. At the same time, IES has taken on additional responsibilities, including overseeing a new admissions data collection effort mandated by an executive order, reports POLITICO.