President Trump’s FY 2020 budget proposal undermines once again public education and neglects children and youth with exceptionalities, slashing the U.S. Department of Education’s budget by approximately 12.5 percent or $8.8 billion. The proposed budget eliminates funding for the Javits Act, the only federal investment to support vulnerable minority and low-income gifted students along with 28 other education programs, cutting $6.7 billion in total. All IDEA grant programs have been level funded at 2019 levels, jeopardizing the provision of a free appropriate public education and early intervention for the nation’s children and youth with disabilities. The budget also cut the National Center for Special Education Research by $2 million.
In addition, the President’s budget proposal recommends an unprecedented investment of $5 billion per year, for a new federal tax credit for individual or corporate donations to state-authorized scholarship-granting organizations. Funds can be used for private school tuition, afterschool tutoring, extra courses, special education services and therapies and certain public school expenses. CEC opposes the use of public funds to fund private school programs.
The President’s proposed budget also eliminates Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Subsidized Loans, Title II – Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants, Title IV- Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants and Teacher Quality Partnership. The President’s proposed budget also eliminated these programs last year, but Congress both Republicans and Democrats chose to maintain them at the 2018 funding level.
It is likely that Congress will restore FY 2020 funding for these programs. The Democratic appropriations leaders in the House have expressed not supporting the deep cuts in the President’s budget, and are actively working to raise the sequester-level caps on non-defense discretionary (NDD) funding to allow for increased investment- such as education investments in FY 2020. Go to CEC’s Legislative Action Center and urge your members of Congress to:
FY 2020 President’s Budget – Department of Education Budget Materials