Joint Statement on the Budget Reconciliation Bill
July 8, 2025

As organizations committed to ensuring that all students have access to a high-quality education, we share our deep concerns and strong opposition to the tax and budget reconciliation bill that has passed Congress on the narrowest of party-line votes and signed into law last week. The new law will devastate state budgets and funding for education, eliminate health insurance and food assistance for millions of students and their families, and have harmful, long-lasting impacts on public schools. Instead of investing in our young people, this law cuts services and programs essential to their success to fund deficit-busting tax cuts for those Americans that need it least.

The law’s cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will result in painful budget decisions, shifting the cost burden to already overextended state and local governments, and tie the hands of state governments and their ability to raise revenue to cover the costs of the programs. Because state and local funds provide the vast majority of funding for our nation’s nearly 100,000 public schools, these cuts will inevitably result in fewer resources for public education. Students will lose access to critical services, support, and school personnel—especially in communities with the fewest resources. Many schools are already losing needed funding as a result of this Administration’s policies, including last week’s illegal withholding of billions in funds that were approved earlier this year by a Republican Congress and signed into law by this president.

The law cuts nearly one trillion dollars from Medicaid – but also shifts the costs of the program even more to states and limits their ability to raise revenue to cover these costs.  The impact of these provisions, in addition to cuts to the Affordable Care Act, will likely result in around 16 million Americans losing their health insurance. Nearly half of all students in the U.S. have access to health insurance through the Medicaid program. In addition to basic health insurance, Medicaid – the fourth largest source of funding for schools – provides critical funding to schools for nurses and counselors, physical and mental health programs, and supports for students with disabilities. It also dramatically slashes food assistance through SNAP, which helps families afford groceries that enable children to learn and fulfill their potential. Further, these SNAP changes will result in millions of children losing access to school meals and going hungry, according to an analysis from the Urban Institute.

The new law also includes a permanent and uncapped private school voucher program that provides a dollar-to-dollar tax credit to individuals and effectively diverts billions in federal funding that could instead support public school students. The program will undermine public education at a time when the Trump administration is simultaneously attempting to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and cut and withhold funding for public schools, both of which will result in tens of thousands of teachers losing their jobs and limited or reduced services for underserved and at-risk students, including those who are homeless, learning English, or have disabilities. Similar state voucher programs have shown again and again that they disproportionately benefit wealthy families and students, enable discrimination by private schools against students, do not lead to improved academic achievement, and disproportionately harm rural communities – where one-third of students live more than ten miles from a private school, and many areas have no private school options at all.

The law also hurts students and teachers by rolling back college affordability programs. It makes student loan repayment much harder and less affordable, likely increasing the number of borrowers in default. Further, it limits loans for graduate and professional students and parents of postsecondary students, and eliminates Grad PLUS loans for any student not currently enrolled –these loans are the primary source of financial aid for graduate degrees, including for teachers pursuing master’s degrees. Our postsecondary students will not only pay the price for this bill – provisions that make higher education less affordable will also exacerbate the teacher shortage, negatively impacting our K-12 schools and students.

Students, families, communities, and public schools will all be significantly harmed by this new law. As organizations working to ensure students, families, and communities have the education resources they need to be successful, we are committed to working with states and school districts to help them understand the magnitude of the harm this will cause and to help limit the impact on students and their families.

Sincerely,

All4Ed
Brighter Future for Colorado
CASEL
Center for American Progress (CAP)
Children Now
EdTrust
Education Leaders of Color
Educators for Excellence
Families in Schools
Healthy Schools Campaign
Kids First Chicago
National Center for Learning Disabilities
National Parents Union
SchoolHouse Connection
StudentsFirstNY
The Center for Learner Equity
UnidosUS