Dear All,
As you know, documents beyond the FY26 skinny request started being posted on Friday. I started my FY26 statistical agency budget development table here: FY26 Statistical Agency Budget Developments. There are some gaps and, likely, some mistakes so please let me know what you are seeing. I will update numbers when the Analytic Perspectives statistical agency budget table is released as well as agency specific details. My initial numbers are mostly from the OMB FY26 request appendix.
I should note that I had been hesitant to report FY25 levels after the CR because of the uncertainty of rescissions and other cuts still to be worked out. The FY25 numbers in the table are based on those in the FY26 documents. Once we are more sure of the FY25 final levels and the FY26 requests, I'll insert them into our tables that go back to FY00: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_xt8oI2neZyTwaZvtyQOtujzuHnjemZPwPuYVsEELr0/edit?gid=0#gid=0.
Here are some quick impressions:
- The President's Budget proposes to reorganize the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Census Bureau at the Department of Commerce, but provides no details.
- The Statistics line of NCES is zeroed out and the Assessment line cut 30%. The ED FY26 budget summary has this line: "The Administration is currently in the midst of reimagining a more efficient, effective, and useful IES that can meet statutory requirements under the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) in fiscal year 2026 and improve support for evidence-based accountability, data-driven decision making, and education research for use in the classroom. *For fiscal year 2026, the Administration requests $124 million, shown on an undistributed line under the IES account, in addition to specific funding for the Assessment and the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) lines, to enable IES to meet statutory requirements, continue critical data collections and studies, and fund administrative expenses in the short-term."
- The NCSES budget has a steep cut to it, with the proposed program funding line being $44 million. (There is also a staffing line). The comparable FY23 level is $78 million. The NSF budget documents has a long list of activities the $44 million is support to cover, including the NSDS demonstration project and "Continued leadership of government-wide evidence-building activities such as management of the Standard Application Process portal." It also mentions:
- "rescoped information available for the science and engineering workforce that will ensure continued measurement of the nation's scientific talent and the businesses that support it."
- "Investments to modernize surveys by assessing the feasibility of leveraging administrative data sources, data linkage opportunities, survey integration efforts, and new approaches to reduce costs and respondent burden while maintaining high-quality and objective data."
- The PBR proposes to move the NCHS from CDC to the to-be-created Office of Strategy. It also indicates NCHS funds will come from the Public Health
Service Evaluation.
I look forward to the insights and observations of this group.
Steve
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Steve Pierson
American Statistical Association
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