Advocacy Delivers: Language Education Wins in FY26 Minibus, WLARA Funding Increase

Late last night, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees released a four bill FY26 “minibus” appropriations bill that contains final compromise funding levels for the Departments of Defense Labor, HHS, and Education. The great news is that the World Language Advancement and Readiness Grants program at the Department of Defense was not only preserved but received a 50% increase. Additionally, key K-12 programs that the Trump Administration proposed for elimination – including Title II-A (professional development), Title III (English language acquisition), Title IV-A (flexible block grant), Native Hawaiian Education and Alaska Native Education – were retained and all would receive level funding over last year.  In higher education, Title VI/Fulbright-Hays, which the Administration had also sought to defund, was preserved but did sustain a $5 million cut. The Native American Language Resource Center received a small increase. The House and Senate are expected to move this package before January 30th, when the current Continuing Resolution, which is keeping the government open, runs out. 

The minibus also grapples with key policy issues, including attempting to prevent the Department from withholding funds as it did last year when it delayed the release of some $7 billion in K-12 spending. Senate Appropriations Ranking Member Patty Murray says in her statement that the bill “includes new measures to ensure the Department of Education makes formula grants available to states and districts on time, preventing funding from being withheld and creating chaos for students, teachers, and families.”

Additionally, the bill does confront the Department of Education’s Interagency Agreements that would transfer administrative responsibilities over most federal K-12 and higher education programs to the Departments of Labor, Interior and State. While the minibus does not directly block these agreements, as Democrats sought, it does contain language that may make it more difficult to implement these agreements. One section of the bill, for instance, bars the transfer of funds between Departments without Congressional authorization. This language may serve to prevent the Department of Labor’s apparent agreement to take over responsibility from the the Department of Education for sending K-12 title allocations to states. Further, the Joint Legislative Report accompanying the bill, which has a bit less legal standing than the bill itself, pours cold water on the Department’s legal authority to enter into these Interagency Agreements, stating that "no authorities exist for the Department of Education to transfer its fundamental responsibilities under numerous authorizing and appropriations laws, including through procuring services from other Federal agencies, of carrying out those programs, projects, and activities to other Federal agencies.” Finally, the Joint Legislative Language expresses concern: 

"about the assignment of such programmatic responsibilities to agencies that do not have experience, expertise, or capacity to carry out these programs and activities and lack developed relationships and communications with relevant stakeholders, including States. The agreement is concerned that fragmenting responsibilities for education programs across multiple agencies will create inefficiencies, result in additional costs to the American taxpayer, and cause delays and administrative challenges in Federal funding reaching States, school districts; and schools. The agreement is also concerned this will weaken Federal support to protect the rights of students, children, youth, and families under Federal education laws.” 

The Appropriations Committees round out their statement by demanding biweekly briefings about their implementation of these agreements.

Once this minibus is enacted, Congress will have officially completed work on all FY26 Appropriations bills. The FY27 Appropriations process is expected to kick-off with the President’s presentation of his budget in the late winter or early spring.

These outcomes reflect the leadership of Congressional offices who stood firm in protecting and strengthening language programs, even in a challenging fiscal climate . They also underscore the power of sustained, nationwide advocacy. JNCL’s nationwie advocacy network of educators, students, parents, and business leaders whose voices continue to shape federal policy and will remain essential as we look ahead .

Below is a list of how key language education programs fared in this bill: