Trump Budget Proposal Eliminates Homeless Education Funding
The Trump Administration’s FY2026 budget proposal eliminates all funding for the McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth program. Learn what’s at stake—and how you can take action to protect education support for over 1.4 million students.
On Friday, May 30th, the Trump Administration released more details about its FY2026 budget proposal, which Congress will begin to consider in the coming weeks. The President’s budget is only a proposal—but it signals the need for strong, sustained advocacy in the weeks and months ahead.
Related: The U.S. Department of Education has released preliminary FY2025 EHCY allocations. Learn what this means.
The FY2026 budget proposal calls for completely eliminating funding for the McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program, along with many other federal education programs. The proposal claims that schools could choose to use funds from a newly created block grant to serve homeless students, but there would be no requirement to do so. As we saw with previous pandemic recovery funding, states and school districts typically do not direct resources toward homeless students unless dedicated funding is set aside for this purpose.
The reality is that eliminating funding for the EHCY program would undermine critical protections that allow homeless students—including those displaced by natural disasters—to:
- Access help from school district homeless liaisons, who are responsible for identifying homeless students, enrolling them, and connecting them with community resources.
- Remain in their original school, even after moving outside its attendance boundaries;
- Receive transportation assistance to ensure consistent school attendance;
- Enroll in school without typically required documentation, which is often lost or unavailable due to frequent moves; and
Without the dedicated funding and protections of the McKinney-Vento Act, nearly 1.4 million children and youth experiencing homelessness would face increased barriers to enrolling in and attending school. As a result, they would be more vulnerable to harm and exploitation, and deprived of education—their most powerful tool for escaping poverty and homelessness in adulthood.
The EHCY program is funded at $129 million – less than one percent of the federal K12 education budget – but opens doors to opportunity for some of our nation’s most vulnerable students.
Take Action Now
- Call your US Representative and ask to speak to the staff person who handles education.
- The message: “Please preserve dedicated federal investments for McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth program in FY2026. The President’s FY2026 budget proposes to eliminate dedicated funding for EHCY by consolidating it into a block grant with 17 other education programs. Without this funding, homeless children and youth in my community will struggle to attend school and get the education they need to avoid homelessness as adults.”
- Phone numbers for U.S. Representatives may be found here.
- Remember: SHC can help schedule, prepare, and even facilitate a virtual meeting if you wish. Please contact TJ Lucas, Senior Manager for Federal Policy, if you are interested.
- If you cannot make a call or meet virtually, please click here to send an email urging your U.S. Representative to protect dedicated federal funding for the EHCY program.
- Please share this with as many community-based partners, supporters, colleagues, and neighbors as you can, and urge them to take action.
- Please share this with local media and urge reporters to cover the impact of this action on children and youth experiencing homelessness in your community or state.