Oppose Education Funding Cuts in the Trump/DeVos Budget
Yesterday, the Washington Post ran a story, “Trump’s first full education budget: Deep cuts to public school programs in pursuit of school choice,” which unfortunately, confirms many expectations. While we await the anticipated May 23 release of the complete FY2018 Trump budget, and with Secretary DeVos scheduled to appear before the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations subcommittee on May 24, we wanted to provide you with the “low-lights” gleaned from the Post’s reporting. Importantly, the Trump/DeVos education budget already has received pushback from members of Congress, including Appropriators of both parties who will soon begin the process of actually crafting funding bills. Want to take action today? Call 1-855-764-1010 and tell Congress to reject this budget!
Low-lights
- Cuts $10.6 billion from federal education initiatives
- Eliminates at least 22 programs
- Calls for a net $9.2 billion cut to the Department of Education (13.6 percent cut from FY2017)
The priorities President Trump outlined in his budget are reckless and wrong for students and working families. If enacted, the Trump budget will crush the dreams of students, deprive millions of opportunities, and make it harder for students to access higher education.
Take Action!!! Please join NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia in urging Congress to oppose cuts to education funding and reject the Trump/DeVos budget proposal by sending a message to your member of Congress.
From President Eskelsen Garcia’s press statement:
“Members of Congress need to listen to their constituents who do not want to slash public schools in order to spend millions of dollars on private schools. There is a responsibility to provide great public schools for every student in America. We believe improving public schools requires more money, not less, and public money should only be used to help public schools. We urge Congress to reject the Trump-DeVos budget proposal and fight for opportunity for all students.”
Further reported details include, making “portable” $1 billion of Title I funds, expansion of charter schools and private school vouchers by $400 million, elimination of after-school programs that serve 1.6 million students, elimination of teacher training and class-size reduction grants (Title II), and the elimination of the new bipartisan-supported ESSA initiative Title IV which helps provide a well-rounded education for students.
The news is no better for higher education under the Trump/DeVos budget proposal. The Post also reported that career and technical education (CTE) funding would be cut by 15 percent from FY2017, almost $500 million would be cut from the Federal Work Study program, the plan would end student loan forgiveness for public servants, and Perkins loans for disadvantaged students.
