The President requests $69.8 billion
for the U.S. Department of Education, a $1.7 billion increase over FY 2012 for
discretionary spending. In addition to sustaining the State and local K-12
reform momentum created by initiatives like Race to the Top and i3, the 2013
budget request for the U.S. Department of Education is focused on three new
priorities: (1) improving affordability and quality in postsecondary education,
(2) elevating the teaching profession to the same high status it enjoys in
nations with the highest-performing education systems, and (3) strengthening
the connections between school and work and better aligning job training
programs with workforce demands.
During
this year’s education budget briefing, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
posed an important question that sets the stage for the upcoming education
policy and budget discussions: “Is Education an Expense or an Investment?” What
do you think?
The key budget proposals by priority follow plus some of the other
important program budget requests:
Improving
Affordability and Quality in Postsecondary Education
· $1 billion for the first year of Race to
the Top: College Affordability and Completion to drive systemic State reforms
that simultaneously lead to increased affordability, quality and productivity.
· Expanding and reforming the Campus-Based
Aid programs, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG), Federal
Work-Study, and Perkins Loans, to provide $10 billion in student financial aid
for use at those colleges that provide the best value to students by enrolling
and graduating students from low-income families, restraining net prices, and
demonstrating good value. The request includes a $150 million increase for
Federal Work-Study.
· $55.5 million for a “First in the World”
fund that would help postsecondary institutions, including private institutions
and nonprofit organizations, to develop, evaluate, or scale up innovative and
effective strategies for improving college completion outcomes while lowering
costs and increasing the quality and capacity of higher education.
Elevating the Teaching
Profession
· $5 billion in one-time funding through
the American Jobs Act for a new initiative to strengthen the education
profession. The initiative would provide support to States and districts to
pursue bold reforms at every stage of the profession.
· A new 25-percent set-aside of Effective
Teachers and Leaders State Grant funds under Title II of the ESEA to support
efforts to build evidence on how to best recruit, train, and support effective
teachers and school leaders.
· $190 million in
mandatory funding for a new Presidential Teaching Fellows program that would
make formula grants to States that meet certain conditions to award
scholarships of up to $10,000 to talented individuals attending the most
effective programs in the State.
Aligning Job Training and
Education Programs with Workforce Demands
· $8 billion over 3 years for a community
college initiative, jointly administered by the Departments of Education and
Labor, to improve access to job
training across the Nation, and support State and community college
partnerships with businesses to build the skills of American workers.
· $1 billion over three years to expand
Career Academies and increase the number of students served by this strategy.
· $1.1 billion to support the
reauthorization and reform of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) program
including the Administration’s reauthorization proposal (to be announced soon)
to restructure CTE and increase the rigor and relevance of what students learn
in school to more closely align with the demands of the 21st century economy
and workforce, while creating stronger linkages between secondary and postsecondary
education.
Key Program Funding in the
Department’s FY 2013 Request
The 2013 request reflects the
Administration’s longstanding commitment to transform our education system
while continuing to help States, communities, school districts, schools, and
postsecondary institutions meet the needs of all students. These investments
are structured around the following policy themes
Promoting Innovation
· $850 million
for additional Race to the Top awards, an increase of $301 million over the
2012 level, to support comprehensive State and local reforms and innovations designed to close achievement gaps and
produce significant improvements in student achievement, high school graduation
rates, and college enrollment rates for all students. The request includes
funding for the Race to the Top—Early Learning Challenge.
· $150 million for the Investing in
Innovation (i3) program for new competitive awards to develop, evaluate, and
scale up evidence-based approaches that improve pre-K through grade 12
achievement and close achievement gaps, decrease dropout rates, increase high
school graduation rates, and improve teacher and school leader effectiveness. A
portion of funds from i3 also would be used to support the development of
breakthrough learning technologies through a new Advanced Research Projects
Agency—Education (ARPA-ED)
· $255 million
for Expanding Educational Options is requested to support the creation and
expansion of effective charter schools and other effective autonomous schools.
Meeting the Full Range of
Student Needs
· $100 million for Promise Neighborhoods is
an increase of $40.1 million.
· $195.9 million for Successful, Safe, and
Healthy Students, a new competitive grant program under the Administration’s
ESEA reauthorization proposal, to carry out strategies designed to improve the
physical and mental health of students; reduce or prevent drug use, alcohol
use, bullying, harassment, or violence; and collect and report better
information on school climate and student safety.
Improving STEM Education
· $149.7 million for Effective Teaching and
Learning: STEM, which would replace the current Mathematics and Science
Partnerships program.
· $80 million for STEM teacher and leader
training and professional development, funded through a set aside from the
Effective Teachers and Leaders program, to support the President’s goal of
preparing 100,000 effective STEM teachers over the next decade.
· $30 million in the Fund for the
Improvement of Education, combined with $30 million from the National Science
Foundation, to support the development and implementation of a robust,
evidence-based K-12 STEM initiative as well as efforts to improve the evidence
base for STEM programs across the Federal Government. This includes $5 million
for grants for disconnected youth.
Supporting Early Learning
· $462.7 million for the Grants for Infants
and Families program under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA), an increase of $20 million over the 2012 level,
· $372.6 million for IDEA Preschool Grants
to help States provide a free appropriate public education in the least
restrictive environment to all children with disabilities ages 3 through 5.
All Students College- and
Career-Ready
· $30 million for PROMISE: Promoting Readiness of Minors in SSI, an
increase of $28 million to expand pilot demonstration programs in selected
States to improve the health, educational attainment, and employment outcomes
for children receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments.
The following programs are proposed for
same level of funding as FY 2012: Title I, Part A, 21st Century
Community Learning Centers, School Turnaround Grants, Assessing Achievement,
Special Education Grants to States, English Learner Education, Title I Migrant
Education, and Neglected and Delinquent Children and Youth Education, Federal
TRIO programs and GEAR UP
College Access and Completion
· $5,635 maximum Pell Grant award supported
by a total request of $36.1 billion in discretionary and mandatory funding to
provide Pell Grants to nearly 10 million postsecondary students.
· Making the American Opportunity Tax
Credit permanent to continue to provide a partially refundable tax credit of up
to $10,000 over 4 years to almost nine million taxpayers. The tax credit
currently is scheduled to expire in 2012.
· Keeping interest rates low on
postsecondary student loans by suspending for 1 year a scheduled increase under
current law that would double rates on subsidized Stafford loans from 3.4
percent to 6.8 percent.
· $81.3 million for College Pathways and
Accelerated Learning, a new authority under the Administration’s ESEA
reauthorization proposal designed to increase graduation rates and preparation
for college matriculation and success by providing college-level and other
accelerated courses and instruction in high-poverty middle and high schools,
including Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate (AP/IB) courses,
dual-enrollment programs, and “early college high schools.
Aligning Programs for Adult
Learners and Individuals with Disabilities with Workforce Demands
· $3.2 billion for Vocational
Rehabilitation (VR) State Grants to help States and tribal governments increase
the participation of individuals with disabilities in the workforce. The
requested $45.7 million increase over 2012 includes $35.7 million that would be
made available from the consolidation of the smaller VR-related programs under
the Rehabilitation Act in order to reduce duplication of effort and
administrative costs.
Identifying Effective
Practices and Increasing Transparency
The Administration is seeking a total of
$760.5 million, an increase of $101.5 million, or 15 percent, to support the
Department of Education’s longstanding role in sponsoring education research
and development activities, gathering and making available a wide range of data
on our education system, and measuring the performance of American students.
· $202.3 million
for Research, Development, and Dissemination is an increase of $12.5 million
over the 2012 level.
· $114.7 million
for NCES is an increase of $6 million over the 2012 level. The increase would
be used to support State participation in a pilot Program for International
Student Assessment (PISA) study to allow States to benchmark the performance of
their 15-year-old students against international standards.
· $132.3 million
for NAEP is a decrease of $6 million from the 2012 level.
· $53.1 million
for Statewide Data Systems, an increase of $15 million over the 2012 level, to
help States develop enhanced longitudinal student data systems that track
student progress from early childhood to entry into the workforce. The proposed
increase would support postsecondary data initiatives designed to improve
information on students as they progress from high school to postsecondary
education and the workforce.
For
complete information on the US Department of Education proposed FY 2013 budget
go to:
http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget13/summary/13summary.pdf
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