Int’l. Educationand Foreign

Language Studies

$65.1M

Int’l. Educationand Foreign

Language Studies

What’s in Store for the Department of Education in FY2018?

Higher Education and Innovation Programs Stand to Lose Out

A Reduction in Research Funding

By Kara Voght, POLITICO Pro DataPointSources: U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations,U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations. Additional reporting by thePOLITICO Pro Budget and Appropriations Team

Both the House and Senate’s appropriations committees approved their respective Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education spending bills for the 2018 fiscal year. This phase of the spending process indicates tentative spending levels for the Department of Education, for which the Senate proposed $71.6 billion in spending — with a $29 million increase in discretionary funding from the previous fiscal year — and the House suggested $69.5 billion, an overall $2.4 billion decrease in discretionary spending.

Congress and the White House have already reached a deal on a stopgap spending bill to fund the government through December, simply extending fiscal 2017 levels. Lawmakers now have three months to reach a new deal on fiscal year 2018 spending, which will include details for Labor-HHS-Education programs. While the House GOP has already approved its partisan Labor-HHS-Education bill on the floor this month, the Senate will be forced to craft a version that can attract Democratic support. While the House’s bill will likely see major changes as Senate Republicans seek an agreement with Democrats that can pass both chambers in December, the initial appropriations proposals offer an early sense of legislative priorities.

Across both appropriations bills, higher education and innovation improvement programs see a decrease in funding from the previous fiscal year. Meanwhile, spending on special education programs and impact aid — which assists students attending school on federally owned lands, such as military bases — see an increase. Spending on education’s largest line item, student financial assistance, remains the same across both bills, though the Senate’s version recommends a 1.7 percent increase in the maximum Pell Grant award from $5,920 to $6,020, the first discretionary increase since fiscal 2007.

Many of the research funding opportunities provided through Department of Education appropriations exist in the Higher Education, Institute of Education Sciences, and Innovation and Improvement accounts, and stand out among those accounts’ reductions. The committee reports cite ineffectiveness, limited impact, and redundancy with other agencies’ funds as reasons for reductions.

Both the House and the Senate bills recommend increased funding for TRIO, programs that encourage college enrollment and completion among low-income and first-generation students. They also recommend a decrease in spending for graduate fellowships in scientific and technical fields.The Senate bill additionally proposes a reduction in spending on the Teacher Quality Partnership program, which helps improve the quality of teachers working in high-need schools and early childhood education programs.The House recommends ending funding for overseas research currently provided under the International Education and Foreign Language Studies account, stating the State Department offers similar funds.

Sept. 22, 2017

Higher Education

The Department of Education’s nonpartisan statistics, research and evaluation arm sees a decrease in spending by $5 million in the Senate bill. The proposal offers less funding toward research aimed at exploring educational design and outcomes, as well as grants for statistical research on U.S. education.

Institute of Education Sciences

Most of the House bill’s reduction comes from the elimination of the $100 million innovation and research budget, which supports the replication and scaling-up of efforts that improve student achievement, and on the premise that funding should focus on core formula grant programs. The House budget also eliminates spending on Arts in Education and School Leader Recruitment and Support grants.The Senate bill proposes an approximately $7 million decrease in spending on innovation and improvement efforts,while the House bill recommends an almost $140 million reduction.

Innovation and Improvement

HowardUniversity

IndianEducation

Safe Schoolsand CitizenshipEducation

SpecialInstitutionsfor Personswith Disabilities

Note: College Housing and Academic Facilities Loans Program total, $435,000, is too small to appear in chart.

Historically Black Collegeand University FinancingProgram Account

Career, Technicaland Adult Edu.

$1.7 billion

DepartmentalMgmt.

Education for theDisadvantaged

English LanguageAcquisition

Higher Education$2 billion

Innovation andImprovement

Rehabilitation Services$3.6 billion

School Improvement Programs$2.3 billion

Special Education$13.3 billion

Student AidAdministration

$1.7 billion

$16.0 billion$24.2 billion

Student FinancialAssistance

Impact Aid$1.3 billion

House: $69.6 billion

Institute of Edu. Sciences

Spending decrease from FY 2017 Increase Unchanged Dollar amounts above $1 billion are shown

HowardUniversity

IndianEducation

Safe Schoolsand CitizenshipEducation

SpecialInstitutionsfor Personswith Disabilities

Note: College Housing and Academic Facilities Loans Program total is too small to appear in chart

Historically Black Collegeand University FinancingProgram Account

Career, Technicaland Adult Edu.

$1.7 billion

Dept. Mgmt.

Education for theDisadvantaged

English LanguageAcquisition

Higher Education$2.1 billion

Innovationand Improvement

Institute of Edu.Sciences

Rehabilitation Services$3.5 billion

School Improvement Programs$4.4 billion

Special Education$13.1 billion

Student AidAdministration

$1.6 billion

Student FinancialAssistance

$16.1 billion$24.2 billion

Impact Aid$1.3 billion

Senate: $71.6 billion Spending decrease from FY 2017 Increase Unchanged

Spending decrease from FY 2017 Increase Unchanged

Dollar amounts above $1 billion are shown

Aid for InstitutionalDevelopment

$577.5 million

Aid for InstitutionalDevelopment

$570 million

Teacher QualityPartnership

Pgm.

Federal TRIO Programs

$953 millionFederal TRIO Programs

$1 billion

R&D, and Dissemination$187.5

Charter School program$370

CharterSchool

program$367.2

Teacher andSchool Leader

Incentive Grants$200

Teacher andSchool LeaderIncentive Grants

SupportingE�ective EducatorDevelopment

MagnetSchools

Assistance$96.5

Magnet Schs.Assistance

$97.7

R&D, and Dissemination$185.0

Assessment$156.8

Assessment$156.8

Statistics$109.5

Statistics$107.0

RegionalEducationalLaboratories

RegionalEducationalLaboratories

Researchand Innovationin Special Edu.

Statewidedata

systems

Special Edu.Studies andEvaluations

$54.4 $54.4

$54.0 $32.3 $10.8

Gaining EarlyAwareness andReadiness for

UndergraduatePrograms

$350M

Gaining EarlyAwareness andReadiness for

UndergraduatePrograms

$339.8

Postsecondary Programsfor Students WithIntellectual Disabilities

PostsecondaryPgms. for Students

With IntellectualDisabilities

Child Care AccessMeans Parents

in School

GraduateAssistancein Areas ofNat’l. Need

GraduateAssistancein Areas ofNat’l. Need

Minority Scienceand EngineeringImprovement

Minority Scienceand Engineering

Improvement

Tribally ControlledPostsecondaryCareer and Tech.Institutions

Tribally ControlledPostsecondaryCareer and Tech.Institutions

House: $2.03 billion Senate: $2.05 billion

House: $605.3 million Senate: $600.3 million

House: $747.9 millionSenate: $880.4 million

SupportingE�ective Educator

Development

Ready-To-Learn

Television

Javits Giftedand TalentedStudents

Amer. Historyand Civics Edu.

$42 $25.7 $12

$1.7

$65

$187

Amer. History and Civics Edu.$1.8

Ready-To-LearnTelevision

Arts inEducation

Javits Gifted andTalented Students

$27.7 $27 $12

Researchand Innovationin Special Edu.

Statewidedata

systems

Special Edu.Studies andEvaluations

$54.0 $32.3 $10.8

$72.2M$11.8 $9.7 $8.3 $5.8 $38.1M $23.1M

$15.1M $11.8M

$9.7M

$8.3M

Edu. Innovationand Research

$95

Spendingdecreasefrom FY 2017Increase

Unchanged

Spendingdecreasefrom FY 2017Increase

Unchanged