Pressure is mounting for the U.S. Department of Education to release nearly $300 million in education-research funding tied to the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Coalitions representing college and K-12 groups, along with a bipartisan slate of senators, sent letters to Education Secretary Linda McMahon urging the department to disperse unallocated IES funds from fiscal years 2025 and 2026. In the senators’ account, the Education Department received $793 million in FY25 and $789.6 million in FY26 for IES activities, with about $290 million remaining that could lapse after Sept. 30. The letters also criticized the “closeouts of hundreds of unreviewed IES FY25 grant proposals” that led to no new awards over the past year. Supporters of the research funding argue that the lapse has contributed to declines in special education research and data gathering. The issue is particularly salient for IES activities that maintain assessment and data infrastructure used for the Nation’s Report Card (NAEP), along with other research programs intended to inform practice. A department spokesperson told K-12 Dive the agency is committed to meeting statutory obligations while supporting high-quality research, but the letters say federal under-allocation is constraining the pipeline of new grants and analysis work.