Obama Seeks to Shelter Education in 2012 Budget

Copies of the federal budget for fiscal year 2012 are stacked up at the U.S. Government Printing Office in Washington on Feb. 14.

—Alex Brandon/AP

By Alyson Klein

Education was a bright spot in the Obama administration’s otherwise austere fiscal year 2012 budget proposal , which seeks a modest boost for the U.S. Department of Education from the current fiscal year; new money for teacher training, research, and early-childhood education; and a continuation of the Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation grant programs.

But Monday’s $77.4 billion Education Department proposal came just three days after Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives released a plan that would slice nearly $5 billion from the budget now funding the department. The GOP reductions—which could be voted on by the House later this week—would include cuts to programs long considered untouchable, such as special education and Pell Grants to help low- and moderate-income students attend college.

“It creates a really stark contrast,” said Joel Packer, a veteran K-12 lobbyist who now serves as a principal with the Raben Group, in Washington, and represents the Committee for Education Funding, a coalition of education organizations. “They’re completely different visions. … The president is trying to make education a priority within a constrained fiscal reality, and the Republicans are not really making any choices because...