White House Budget Ignores Needs of Classroom Teachers

By Matt Larson, NCTM President
March 23, 2017

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and its 60,000 members are disappointed that the budget proposal released by the White House last week falls short in its planned investments in education and research across the federal government. In particular, the proposal includes zero dollars for the $2.4 billion Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program. This program and associated funds are authorized in Title II of the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act. Classroom teachers rely on these investments for ongoing professional development critical to managing 21st Century classrooms and teaching 21st Century students.

The proposal would also eliminate the $43 million Teacher Quality Partnership grant program, which institutions of higher education use to strengthen and modernize their teacher preparation programs. These two elements of the budget plan ignore the needs of classroom teachers and the support required to teach the content young people need to know to be successful citizens and workers. Time and again, research has shown that single most important factor in successful learning in K–12 classrooms is the quality of the teacher at the head of it. NCTM and its members look forward to working with Congress and the White House to ensure that needs of mathematics teachers, teacher educators, and the students they teach are adequately addressed in a final federal spending plan.

Read the budget proposal.