The Daily PulseEducation
US Education Statistics Agency Loses Staff and Funding Amid Major Federal Cuts
Reported by Abhishek Tiwari (Copy Editor) · The Guardian - Education ·
Confirmed by a second source: Google News - USA Education (search)
Representative image · Wikimedia CommonsStudent reading and math scores in the United States have dropped to their lowest point in the past quarter-century just as the federal agency that tracks this data faces steep staff cuts and contract cancellations.
Agency Impact
The National Center for Education Statistics, known as NCES, saw its headcount drop sharply from about 100 workers down to just four before rising slightly to 12 staff members. The Trump administration allowed the Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge, to cancel nearly $900 million in department contracts last year while firing nearly half of the Department of Education workforce. NCES collects critical information including The Nation's Report Card, which tests students in math, reading, writing, science and history, and helps set policy and fund school districts.
Terminated Studies
Many canceled projects were long-term studies that followed individual students over time. Doge cut a $47 million contract for the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study in the middle of its third iteration. That study was tracking 15,000 first graders who entered kindergarten in the fall of 2023 to measure pandemic effects on learning. Other halted projects include a study of students who started college in 2019 and a high school study that began in 2009. Experts noted that these cuts wasted money because millions had already been spent upfront on setup costs, and the education department had to pay several million-dollar termination fees.
Responses and Reinstatements
Savannah Newhouse, an education department spokesperson, stated that the research arm containing NCES is still collecting some data like The Nation's Report Card and that reform work is underway. However, former employees and researchers argue the cuts destroy objective tracking during a learning decline. Groups including the Institute for Higher Education Policy have filed lawsuits challenging the cuts, and public pressure has led the department to reinstate some collections, such as the national postsecondary student aid survey.
ExplainerWhy this matters
What Happened
The Trump administration reduced the workforce at the Department of Education by nearly half and allowed Doge to cancel about $900 million in department contracts. This action severely downsized the National Center for Education Statistics, halting major long-term studies on student performance and learning trends.
Why It Matters
Federal education data guides how billions of dollars in school funding are distributed and helps policymakers understand why student reading and math scores are falling. Without longitudinal studies that follow students over years, researchers lose the primary tools needed to test whether early childhood programs, pandemic learning interventions, and college financing policies actually work.
What Happens Next
Advocacy groups and policy organizations have filed several lawsuits to challenge the funding and staffing cuts. While public pressure has forced the department to restore a few specific surveys, such as student aid assessments, the future scope of federal education research remains uncertain as legal battles continue.
