Budget and Appropriations Not Good News for Education

This week, the House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (LHHS-Education) Appropriations Subcommittee did something it hasn’t in three years—held a markup of an annual spending bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. The bill that was debated isn’t full of good news for education advocates. It proposes to cut funding for Department of Education programs by $2.8 billion and recommends no funding at all for more than 25 programs, including the School Improvement Grant program, the Investing in Innovation (i3) program, Pre-School development grants, the Math and Science Partnership program, Pell Grants, Teacher Quality program grants, Striving Readers and Safe and Drug-free Schools and Communities national programs, among others. Indian Education, Charter Schools, Head Start and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) State grants would see increases in the bill. The full table and report language aren’t available yet, so more details of the spending bill are coming—hopefully before the Appropriations full Committee’s debate of the proposal, which is scheduled for Wednesday, June 24th.