The approval is an early application of the administration’s stated goal to ‘return education to the states,’ using an existing but rarely invoked statutory exemption — and it previews a larger push by McMahon in Congress to consolidate the bulk of federal education funding into block grants nationwide.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon formally approved Iowa’s plan Wednesday to consolidate four streams of federal education funding into a single pot with fewer federal spending restrictions, making Iowa the first state to receive such a waiver under the Trump administration’s push to scale back federal oversight of public schools.
McMahon signed off on the plan at an event in Iowa. Indiana and Kansas have also applied for similar exemptions from parts of federal education law, and leaders of other states have expressed interest.
“We are eliminating that sort of, not bottleneck, but that additional compliance for the states, and that’s just going to be incredibly helpful to the state,” McMahon told the Associated Press.
What the waiver does
Under the arrangement, Iowa will pool federal money from four programs — teacher training, English learners, after-school programs, and academic enrichment — into a single fund that state officials can direct toward priorities of their choosing. Iowa said it will merge about $9.5 million over the course of the waiver, which runs through September 2028.
The waiver applies to money used by the state’s education agency, not the larger sums that flow to Iowa’s more than 300 public school districts. Iowa said the change will save about $8 million in staff time previously devoted to documenting compliance with individual program rules.
The state will still be required to show that it is meeting the spirit of the federal laws behind each funding source.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, speaking alongside McMahon, acknowledged that the department’s authority under current law is limited. “We stand ready to support you in advocating to Congress for greater flexibilities,” Reynolds said.
A narrower version of Iowa’s original ask
The approved waiver is significantly narrower than the plan Iowa initially proposed in March. That earlier version asked to combine 10 funding sources — including Title I, which sends more than $100 million to Iowa schools with large shares of low-income students — into a single block grant covering both the state agency and local school districts.
Education Department officials said Iowa’s approved plan reflects the flexibility available under existing law.
McMahon has separately asked Congress to pass a budget that would combine much of the nation’s federal education funding into a single block grant — a longtime goal among conservatives who argue that federal dollars arrive freighted with too many conditions.
Critics warn of harm to high-need students
Education equity advocates said the waiver puts vulnerable students at risk. Allison Socol, a vice president at EdTrust, a think tank that advocates for educational equity, said the waiver will “divert federal funding away from students with the greatest needs,” including English learners and students who benefit from after-school programs.
Democrats in Congress urged McMahon in May to reject block grant requests, saying such arrangements would fail “the very students these provisions aim to support.”
Broader context: Education Department’s rollback
Known as block grants, the model the Iowa waiver approximates is a longstanding conservative policy goal. Opponents say it would allow states to redirect money away from the students the federal aid was designed to reach, including low-income students and English learners, and toward other state priorities.
Iowa’s waiver is the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to reduce the federal government’s role in education. McMahon has halved the Education Department’s staff and has moved some of its largest grant programs to other agencies. The Supreme Court ruled in July that the work to wind down the department can continue.
McMahon described Iowa’s plan in her formal approval as “a first-in-the-nation proposal to return education to the States by providing common-sense flexibility, within the letter of and while maintaining the spirit of Federal law.”