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Education Dive
Trump's proposed 2021 budget: ESSA overhaul, Title I cuts, CTE emphasis
The draft budget would cut key K-12 programs while funding private
school scholarships in what one education policy expert said is
"educational whack-a-mole."
Naaz Modan
Feb. 11, 2020
President Donald Trump announced his proposed 2021 fiscal year budget
Monday afternoon, once more suggesting cuts to the Department of
Education and its notable K-12 programs.
Overall, the budget allocates $66.6 billion for the Department of Education, 7.8% or $5.6 billion less than the previous year.
Among proposed changes is a push to restructure the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act into a block grant of $19.4 billion, which
would consolidate major programs into its fold, including the Every
Student Succeeds Act's Title I and Title II, and amount to $4.8 billion
less than what Congress approved for 2020.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, speaking in a press briefing, said she
hopes the restructuring would encourage flexibility in how states spend
their federal education dollars and cut back on federal oversight. She
added the change would help education leaders "focus on people, not
paperwork" and would allow states to spend money as they see fit
instead of on the "pet projects" coming out of Washington.
"We can walk and chew gum on this one," Assistant Secretary Frank T.
Brogan said in the briefing, saying the effort would give states more
autonomy on how they spend their federal education money while holding
states accountable.
But Noelle Ellerson Ng, associate executive director for policy and
advocacy for AASA, The School Superintendents Association, said the
administration is playing "educational whack-a-mole" with its funds —
cutting in key areas to temporarily fix others. The block grant,
Ellerson Ng said, would be a "dead on arrival nonstarter" Congress is
less than likely to pass, considering ESEA was a strong bipartisan
effort that was recently reauthorized.
The proposed budget would also invest an additional $100 million in
funding in special needs, which would bring Trump's proposed
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funding to $13 billion, a
total similar to previous years' suggested levels but less than the
$13.9 billion Congress approved for 2020.
Other initiatives
Among priorities the White House highlighted in its budget were
Education Freedom Scholarships, which Trump stressed in his State of
the Union address last week and called on Congress to pass.
The program, which DeVos has been pushing since last year, would give
$5 billion in annual federal tax credits for businesses and individuals
who voluntarily donate to organizations providing private school
scholarships.
While DeVos said the initiative is meant to expand education freedom
for families, many are worried it will siphon away public dollars for
private schools. And, combined with the block grant that would
eliminate major programs including the Charter Schools Program,
educators and advocates are concerned the budget suggests a "chilling"
future for school choice.
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