The longest federal government shutdown in history — lasting 43 days — did not stop the members of the National Student Council (NSC) from making their voices heard.
August James, the NSC state representative for Washington, D.C. and a junior at the District of Columbia International School, was one of many NSC representatives across 21 states, Washington. D.C., Guam and Puerto Rico that gathered in Capitol Hill a couple weeks ago to meet with members of Congress about educational policy and issues that are important to students.
For James, it was funding for mental health in schools that he felt was crucial to address.
“In D.C., the average rate of importance for mental health in schools is 36%, which is 10% higher than the CDC average,” he says. “We need to be doing more, and threats to completely cut Title II and issue significant cuts to funding for Title IV are extremely worrisome to many D.C. schools. Many of my neighboring schools either don’t have a school therapist or only have one or two for thousands of students.”
No Time Like the Present
While the trip to Capitol Hill is an annual tradition for the National Student Council, this year’s meeting carried a different tenor than previous years. Since the beginning of 2025, nearly half of the Department of Education’s employees were laid off, and between Oct. 1 and Nov. 13, 90% were furloughed because of the shutdown.
During that time, education funding was not being distributed to schools across the country that rely on it, so it was more important than ever to advocate for their needs.
This year, the NSC also had to advocate for policies that would keep existing programs funded and operational. Title I, which funds schools serving low-income populations; Title II, which funds training for teachers; and Title IV, which has become a crucial source of funding for mental health services in schools; are all under threat of budget cuts and even being defunded entirely. Though a temporary bill that passed Nov. 12 to end the shutdown reversed layoffs and helped fund education through Jan. 30, a final budget for fiscal year 2026 has not been passed.
The NSC met with state representatives for all the states its members are from Oct. 28, and the staffers of representatives who were not able to attend.
James notes that they were met with bipartisan enthusiasm and plenty of support for the policies for which they were advocating.
“Our legislative agenda is bipartisan, so both parties could find something in it that they liked,” he says of his experience. It was all about how to equip our students, and give them a better future, and that’s what our entire legislative agenda is about. Our Democratic and Republican offices all want the same solution; they just have different ways of getting to that solution.”
