Trump’s Proposed 2020 Budget Favors the Rich, Increases Inequality, and Shorts Public Education
Nobody paid much attention to President Trump’s 2020 federal budget proposal for education when it was released on Monday. The 2020, K-12 education budget is similar to what Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos proposed last year and also the year before. In both of those years, a Republican-led House and Republican-led Senate increased allocations for core public school programs instead of cutting them, and Congress entirely rejected DeVos’s proposals for vouchers. This year, Democrats, who do not share the President’s priorities, dominate the House of Representatives, while key senators in both parties remain committed to maintaining what is already meager public school funding.
Summarizing proposed budget allocations for K-12 public education, Education Week‘s Andrew Ujifusa reports: “Title I funding for disadvantaged students, the single-largest federal funding program for public schools, remains flat at $15.9 billion in Trump’s budget pitch. Special education grants to states would also be level-funded at $13.2 billion. Also flat-funded are the English Language Acquisition formula grants at $737.4 million… (T)he office for civil rights would get $125 million, the same as current funding.” Head Start, which is part of the Health and Human Services budget, would also be funded at the 2019 level.
Several important programs are eliminated in the President’s 2020 budget proposal: Title II for teacher staff development, Title IV for students’ academic support and enrichment, and the 21st Century Community Learning Centers after-school program. DeVos proposed last year that these same programs be eliminated, but Congress preserved the funding.
The proposed education budget would increase the federal Charter Schools Program to $500 million—up by $60 million from last year. The proposed budget would double funding for the CONTINUE READING: Trump’s Proposed 2020 Budget Favors the Rich, Increases Inequality, and Shorts Public Education | janresseger
