"The U.S. Department of Education (USED) published a proposed rule that would make several significant changes to the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR), the rules governing USED’s management of federal competitive and formula education grants.
"Over the past 19 months, the Administration has taken unprecedented actions to freeze, cancel, and terminate federal grants. With this proposed rule, USED seeks to codify into EDGAR the Administration’s preferred approach—infusing political and policy preferences into grantmaking and providing the Executive Branch with broad power over appropriated funds. These proposed revisions threaten the stability of federal funding and risk disrupting ongoing program activities and scientific research.
"Public comments are due by Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET. It is critical that USED receives comments on the harmful impacts of these proposed changes. Before finalizing new regulations, federal agencies must respond to all significant comments and explain their decision-making process.
"How to Take Action: Use this EDGAR Public Comment Toolkit for templates, guidance, and an overview of key provisions, drafted with support from EducationCounsel.
[Original post from Aug 26]
Originally distributed by the Postsecondary Education & Economics Research Center at American U. and George Washington U.
"The U.S. Department of Education released a proposed rule amending the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR), which govern Department grantmaking, to align with a proposed rule published by the Office of Management and Budget earlier this year. The proposed changes include making it easier for the Secretary to cancel or decline to continue grants “for convenience.”
Comments are due on September 23; for information on writing effective comments, please reach out to peercenter@american.edu.
Regulations.gov: 2026-17239 EDGAR NPRM, Posted by the Department of Education on Aug 24, 2026
K-12 Dive (Aug 21)
"The U.S. Department of Education is seeking to give itself more leeway in how and why it cancels federal grant funding, according to a proposed rule scheduled to be published in the Federal Register Monday.
"The rule would codify controversial approaches to canceling funding that have landed the agency in hot water in the last year, during which a slew of grant funds were abruptly ended because the Education Department said they don’t align with the Trump administration’s priorities.
"The changes would include allowing the department to cancel discretionary funds “for convenience” — a term that grantmaking and education experts say is broad, vague and atypical for discretionary grants to be subject to.
“The proposed changes would ensure that the Department retain ongoing programmatic discretion after an award is made, consistent with law, to terminate a discretionary award for convenience,” the proposed changes state."
See previous DCSS news items on the OMB proposed rule here.
