The Trump administration and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon present a troubling paradox regarding the federal role in education. They make public statements that champion educational excellence and evidence-based practices. But, at the same time, they state emphatically that their mission is to dismantle the Department of Education, backing this up with withholding, or proposing to eliminate, funding for policies in areas that they simultaneously claim are of utmost importance, such as evidence-based literacy programs.

Nowhere are these contradictions on clearer display than in the department’s proposed priorities for federal competitive grants for evidence-based literacy. On the one hand, the department’s proposed priorities represent the kind of federal leadership that could move the needle on state and local policy in a positive direction. Its commitment to the body of evidence known as the science of reading in particular would help ensure that federal dollars are invested in literacy strategies that are proven to work, rather than ineffective methods that have failed generations of students.

Unfortunately, the administration has moved to eliminate or consolidate programs that support their supposed goals toward evidence-based literacy.

First, President Donald Trump’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget calls for eliminating $194 million in Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grants. This program helps states develop reading instruction for students from birth through high school, emphasizing low-income families, English learners and students with disabilities. The budget also aims to defund the Innovative Approaches to Literacy Grants program.

These are two of 18 programs slated for consolidation into a block grant. While the Trump budget states that a minimum of 7.5% of block grant funds ($150 million) would be reserved for literacy programs, this would still be a 33% cut from existing funding levels for the two programs.

Second, the administration has proposed eliminating $890 million next year from the Title III English Language Acquisition program under the Every Student Succeeds Act and just last week abruptly told states it would not be sending them this year’s funding. Title III provides grants to state education agencies to help English learners become proficient and make academic progress. Eliminating Title III funding — and, for all intents and purposes, repealing the program — would greatly reduce resources and policy guidance that helps English learners. For example, Title III requires states to establish and implement standardized procedures for identifying students who may be English learners and for their eventual exit from that status. If Title III is unfunded, there will be no guarantee that English learners will be assessed and that there will be a clear timeline for their attaining proficiency.

Read the full article about evidence-based literacy programs by Charles Barone at The 74.