NAEYC: President’s budget proposes more harmful cuts for young children, families and early childhood educators

The Trump Administration’s partial budget proposal, which was released last week, outlines what it wants Congress to fund and to cut in fiscal year 2026.

The budget proposes a $163 billion cut to what’s called “non-defense discretionary spending,” which is the portion of the federal budget that pays for services like child care, education, public health, research, and more. If Congress decides to implement these cuts, they would be felt in every community, harming children’s access to child care and early learning, and breaking the precedent of years of bipartisan support.

Here are just a few of the specific, important programs the budget calls to eliminate:  

• Preschool Development Grants (PDG), which provide resources to states to improve access to quality early education in communities, improve program administration, and boost child care quality and supply.

• Child Care Access Means Parents in Schools (CCAMPIS), which supports student parents in accessing child care while they go to college.

• Teacher Quality Partnership Grants, which support programs preparing educators to teach in high-need schools and early childhood education programs.

• Community Services Block Grant, which funds efforts to address the causes of poverty in low-income communities, including access to early childhood education.

• Additionally, the budget calls for more than $4.5 billion in cuts to federal education grants to public schools.

While leaked drafts of the budget included threats to eliminate Head Start, this partial budget does not specify any cuts to that program, or the Child Care and Development Block Grant. However, early childhood educators and the communities they serve would be directly impacted by many of the harmful cuts outlined already. This budget proposal comes after months of executive actions that have destabilized programs, eliminated needed staff, and created uncertainty and confusion for educators and families across the country. 

In partnership with educators and families, NAEYC has been drawing attention to what early childhood educators need to thrive. We need action from leaders in Congress to ensure these proposed and devastating cuts don’t come to fruition. Please take a moment today to contact your members of Congress and urge them to invest in, not cut critical programs for young children, families and early childhood educators.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a professional membership organization that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research. We advance a diverse, dynamic early childhood profession and support all who care for, educate, and work on behalf of young children. The association comprises more than 50,000 individual members of the early childhood community and 51 Affiliates, all committed to delivering on the promise of high-quality early learning. Together, we work to achieve a collective vision: that all young children thrive and learn in a society dedicated to ensuring they reach their full potential.
 
 
 
 
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