By Della Cronin
As the summer heats up, the House and Senate are in the midst of the annual exercise to decide future spending levels for agencies and programs important to education and research communities. Building on the two-year budget agreement reached earlier this year as part of the negotiations to resolve FY 2018 spending, appropriators are finding their task to be more manageable.
In the run up to the June 15 markup of the House version of the FY 2019 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill, education advocates were reviewing the draft that was recently released. Since appropriations bills are short on descriptive text, it was not immediately apparent that the bill was full of good news.
The bill would fund the Department of Education at nearly $71 billion, which is $43 million above the FY 2018 enacted level. That amount includes $12.3 billion for Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) special education grants to states, an increase of $50 million over the FY 2018 enacted level. It also proposes level funding for the two large formula grant programs in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA); Title I funding for economically challenged schools would get $15.5 billion whereas educator professional development efforts funded in Title II would see $2.1 billion. Level funding of $1.2 billion is also proposed for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, which invests in after-school programs. The bill includes $1.2 billion, $100 million above the FY 2018 level, for Student Support and Academic Achievement State Grants (Title IV, Part A), building on the significant increase that the program saw in FY 2018. The bill also would provide $1.9 billion for career, technical, and adult education programs, an increase of nearly $115 million. NCTM members who participated in meetings on Capitol Hill as part of the 2018 Annual Meeting & Exposition asked members of Congress to ensure that these programs were adequately funded.
In other spending news, TRIO and GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), which help first-generation college students prepare for, enter, and complete college, would grow by $60 million and $10 million, respectively, bringing TRIO programs to a total of $1.06 billion and GEAR UP to a total of $360 million. In the Department of Health and Human Services, the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) would receive level funding at $5.2 billion. “This bill funds critical programs that will protect and save lives both now and in the future, and help prepare the next generation to be part of a productive workforce to grow our economy and provide for their families. This includes investments in vital research to cure diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s, job training, college preparation, and special education programs, and protections against health threats such as pandemics and bio-threats,” House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) said of the spending bill.
The subcommittee debate was relatively short because members agreed to delay any amendments until full committee action. It remains to be seen how the Senate will choose to address these programs and agencies. However, NCTM has weighed in with lawmakers on the importance of Title IV, Part A spending, the investments in educators made via Title II of the law, and the overall importance of sufficient funds being made available to educators.
In other education policy matters, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee debated a bipartisan bill that would reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act at the end of June. NCTM and the STEM Education Coalition weighed in on the proposal and hoped to strengthen some of the bill’s STEM education provisions prior to the reauthorization. As for higher education, there have been persistent, conflicting rumors about potential action on the PROSPER Act. NCTM has joined the chorus of other teacher and teacher educator organizations that are letting members of the House know that the bill’s plan to eliminate investments in teacher preparation programs and student aid programs that support math and other teachers is unacceptable. That opposition is arguably part of the reason why House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) has had a hard time convincing her colleagues to vote on the bill.