President Joe Biden is proposing major spending increases for the U.S. Department of Education in the next fiscal year鈥攊ncluding major boosts for disadvantaged students, special education, and wraparound services at community schools鈥攁nd said the coronavirus pandemic鈥檚 impact on students and educators has made additional funding more urgent.
An overview of the president鈥檚 that the Biden administration released Friday includes $102.8 billion in discretionary aid for the Education Department. That鈥檚 an increase of nearly $30 billion, or approximately 41 percent, from the agency鈥檚 current discretionary budget of about $73 billion that lawmakers approved late last year.
Congress often ignores presidents鈥� annual spending requests, including high-profile proposals and major increases or decreases in spending on established programs. However, Biden might find a somewhat friendlier audience for his ideas in this Congress, which Democrats control, than other presidents.
Biden wants the following notable increases at the Education Department and elsewhere:
- $36.5 billion for Title I aid to disadvantaged students, an increase of $20 billion over current funding.
- $15.5 billion in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act grants to states, a $2.6 billion increase.
- $1 billion for K-12 schools to use to hire more counselors, nurses, and mental health professionals.
- $11.9 billion for Head Start early-education program at the Department of Health and Human Services, a $1.2 billion bump.
- $100 million in a new grant program to foster increased diversity in schools. That seems to pick up where the Obama administration left off.
The proposal also has a big increase for full-service community schools, which provide wraparound services, although just how big that increase would be isn鈥檛 clear. Right now, federal grants to community schools total $30 million; the spending request at one point says the president wants $430 million for those schools, yet in a different section, that request is for $443 million. The White House and the Education Department did not immediately respond to requests for clarification about how much Biden wants for those grants.
Message to Congress: 鈥楳ore work remains鈥�
Biden鈥檚 spending pitch comes nearly a month after he signed the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion aid package that includes nearly $130 billion for K-12 education. Combined with two previous COVID-19 relief deals, schools have received nearly $200 billion in emergency federal aid for K-12, representing an unprecedented infusion of money from Washington that will impact schools for years to come.
Noting that the American Rescue Plan provides 鈥渆ssential鈥� resources but that 鈥渕ore work remains鈥� to help people recover from the pandemic, the Biden spending plan goes on to say that, 鈥淭he discretionary request includes proposals that would contribute to a stronger, more inclusive economy over the long term by investing in children and young people, advancing economic security, opportunity, and fairness for all Americans.鈥� (Discretionary spending is money appropriated annually by Congress.)
鈥淧resident Biden鈥檚 discretionary budget request is the welcome news that educators and students deserve after a very difficult last year,鈥� said Anna Maria Ch谩vez, the executive director and CEO of the National School Boards Association, in a statement.
Unsurprisingly, the request is very different from former President Donald Trump鈥檚 budget blueprints for the Education Department.
In Trump鈥檚 fiscal 2021 spending plan released early last year, for example, he sought to roll 29 programs into a block grant, as part of an overall plan to reduce the department鈥檚 budget. Trump also sought cuts to the department鈥檚 overall budget in previous fiscal years, although Congress rejected that and approved relatively small increases to Title I and other big-ticket programs throughout Trump鈥檚 presidency, including when Republicans controlled the House and Senate.
During his presidential campaign, Biden promised to triple Title I funding, as did other Democratic candidates. His new spending blueprint for fiscal 2022 falls short of that pledge, although the bulk of the American Rescue Plan鈥檚 K-12 aid is being allocated to local schools through the Title I formula. (Biden made that pledge before the coronavirus pandemic began.)
The overview released by the White House Friday doesn鈥檛 outline his plans for every line item in the Education Department鈥檚 budget. It doesn鈥檛 specifically mention charter schools, for example. Funding for the Charter Schools Program, which is designed to support the creation of high-quality charters, has become more controversial in recent years. The program is getting $440 million in fiscal 2021, the same as it got in the previous fiscal year.
