Children’s health, welfare, and education, chopped

The Trump 2025 budget callously chops services that are vitally important for children and vulnerable families. Reduced funding for food stamps (SNAP), school meals, school mental health services, and public education will hurt kids. As if this is not enough, the president is specifically withholding funding to support poor children, English language learners, and children with special needs.

Historically, the federal government played roughly the opposite role: It helped children who had been left out or left behind. For families dreaming of a thriving future for their kids, this Trump budget isn’t a benign act of pruning.

1 Deep cuts to health insurance for kids

California’s version of Medicaid is called Medi-cal.

At the top of the list is cuts to Medicaid, a joint federal and state program that provides health insurance to low income individuals and families. About $1.1 trillion will be cut nationally over the next decade. A trillion dollars is a hard number to get your head around. It’s $1,000,000,000,000 — a million millions.

These federal cuts will be brutal to California’s children and schools. The estimated California impact: a loss of health coverage for up to 3.4 million Californians.

Medi-Cal, California's version of Medicaid, covers more than a third of the state's population overall, and more than half of the state’s children. The map below shows Medi-Cal enrollment by county in California for children and teens.

Over 5 million kids and teens in California rely on Medi-Cal/Medicaid. About 151,000 children in California stand to lose health care coverage.

Nationally, Medicaid is the fourth largest federal funding source for K-12 schools, supporting over $7.5 billion of school-based health services nationally every year.

2 Cuts to food for kids

SNAP ~ CalFresh ~ “food stamps”

The Trump budget guts the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) starting in 2028.

Some background is useful. Originally known as food stamps, SNAP uses existing market mechanisms to provide food to low-income families in need. Food stamps were a major innovation in addressing poverty because, unlike location-specific services like non-profit soup kitchens, they enable hungry people to buy food through efficient distribution systems like supermarkets. By increasing reliance on already-overwhelmed food banks, the cuts inflict new burdens on families.

The Trump budget also shifts more of the cost to the states, cutting federal funding by $186 billion through 2034.

According to the New York Times, “the bill will require the biggest cut to SNAP since the food stamp program began in 1939, during the Great Depression.”

In California, Governor Newsom estimates that the federal cuts to aid for poor families through SNAP will affect at least 735,000 recipients and add up to at least $1.25 billion, not including at least $178 million in cuts to grants for nutrition education.

In some states, changes in SNAP may also affect how many students are eligible for free meals through their school. California offers universal free meals for students. You can find a detailed list of changes to SNAP here.

3 Food for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)

Food banks are bracing for massive increases in local hunger, especially among households with kids under five. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides free, healthy foods and personalized nutrition education, breastfeeding support and referrals to other services. The changes to SNAP eligibility will make it harder for many low-income moms and young children to access the program.

4 Mental Health Services

U.S. Department of Education is discontinuing school mental health grants to the tune of $1 billion nationwide. (Of this amount, roughly $200 million is for high-need, low-income, and rural schools in California.) These programs were designed to increase the number of credentialed providers of school-based mental health services.

California Attorney General Bonta and a multistate coalition are taking legal action to block the U.S. Department of Education from unlawfully discontinuing grants awarded by Congress.

America’s constitutional system of checks and balances famously gives Congress the power of the purse. By enacting laws, it can direct the executive branch to levy taxes and spend money. President Trump has withheld delivery of $6.2 billion in Congressionally authorized federal funding for education nationwide. The impact on California is substantial. More than $800 million in federal funding has been withheld, representing about 17% of the federal portion of California’s education funding.

How long will the funds be withheld? Good question. The simple facts are that the money has been approved by Congress. As of this writing in July, 2025 the President has refused to pony up.

California, along with many other states, filed a lawsuit on July 14, 2025 to challenge the administration's authority to withhold these funds. The California Department of Education maintains a web page documenting all the communications and legal actions the state is taking to protect children and schools from federal attacks.

And this gets worse… The funds that have been withheld are for programs that the President's budget proposes to eliminate next year. If he can starve them to death without formally killing them, it will be a fait accompli and a terrible precedent. Read the Ed100 blog post Trump's plan slashes spending on children.

Items 5-9 below are the major education programs affected by the withheld funds, with estimates for California from the Learning Policy Institute.

5 Migrant education (withheld)

Ed100 Lesson 2.9
Undocumented students: Education vs. Documentation

The Migrant Education Program helps migrant children reach academic standards and graduate with a high school diploma. Currently, 72,983 California migrant students are eligible for services in 540 school districts throughout the state.

California funding withheld: About $121 million.

6 Support for Instruction (withheld)

Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants provide money to increase student achievement, particularly low income and minority students, by improving the quality and effectiveness of educators.

California funding withheld: about $233 million.

7 English Learners (withheld)

Ed100 Lesson 6.3
Literacy: Ensuring All Kids Learn to Read, Write and Speak English

English Language Acquisition State Grants are designed to improve the education of English Learner (EL) students. The program also provides enhanced instructional opportunities for immigrant children and youth. California has the largest English learner (EL) student population in the nation.

California funding withheld: about $158 million.

8 Academic Enrichment (withheld)

The Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program is designed to increase student access to a well-rounded education, improve school conditions for student learning, and improve the academic achievement and digital literacy for all students.

California funding withheld: about $153 million.

9 Before school, after-school, and summer programs (withheld)

Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers support academic enrichment opportunities during non-school hours for children, those who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools.

California funding withheld: about $147 million.

10 Private school subsidies

The Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA)

The reconciliation budget contains a controversial provision that supports private and religious schools through federal tax credits. The tax credit program will apply to donations of up to $1,700 per individual taxpayer starting in 2027.

In the Ed100 blog
School choice and politics

Last-minute budget negotiations added a provision for states to opt out of offering these tax credits, creating a political dilemma for California: should it forbid these donations? The California legislature has rejected voucher-based funding incentives to expand private education in the past.

The new law is based on the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA), a measure that floundered in Congress for years. This is an example of a government policy that favors the wealthy and challenges funding for public schools.