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Education Funding

Watch This Refresher on Trump’s Education Budget in Under 60 Seconds

By Andrew Ujifusa — July 11, 2017 1 min read
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Did you forget all about the federal education budget? We’re not offended, but we’re here to help.

On Thursday, the House appropriations subcommittee that handles school spending will consider a bill that funds the U.S. Department of Education for fiscal 2018. It’s likely the legislation will ignore much of what’s in President Donald Trump’s spending blueprint for the department that his administration released in May. But what are the highlights of Trump’s plan? We put together a snappy 58-second video for you that covers how spending would change, what Trump wants to cut, and what he wants more money for. Watch it below, or click here.

Trump’s budget would give a big boost to school choice. Republicans tend to applaud choice programs, but they haven’t said much in support of the parts of the president’s spending plan that would increase public and private school choice. It will be interesting to see how the House subcommittee, which is the first movement in Congress on the education budget for fiscal 2018, handles the controversial issue of choice.

Other things to watch:

  • Will House appropriators buck the administration and fund (or even increasing funding for) things like the big Title IV block grant that’s supposed to pay for a diverse set of programs?
  • How will Title II money for teacher training and after-school spending, which together amount to over $3 billion but which Trump wants to eliminate, fare in the House spending bill?
  • What will total education spending be in the House legislation?

Want even more detail? Check out our graphic of the Trump budget’s impact on various programs below:

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