Policymakers and advocates alike have been awaiting the full details of President Trump’s FY 2018 budget proposal since his “skinny budget” was released in March. The budget outline had originally included a $9 billion (13.5%) cut to education and a 2.5 billion (21%) cut to Department of Labor programs, but few programmatic details were included and funding for Perkins was not mentioned at all.
After several delays, the President’s full budget is now expected to be released on Tuesday, May 23, and will include funding levels for every individual program. In advance of that release, The Washington Post has reportedly received a “near-final” version of the budget documents and posted a story revealing details on the education budget.
Despite positive rhetoric from a variety of Administration officials in support of CTE, the budget proposal, if accurate, would instead suggest deep cuts to CTE and other programs directly serving our students. Reportedly, the Administration will propose a $168 million (15%) cut to Perkins funding—harming CTE programs, students and employers around the country! Other reported program cuts that impact CTE include:
- Student support and academic enrichment grants - eliminated ($400 million)
- Work Study - cut $490 million
- Adult education - cut $96 million
ACTE published a statement on the cuts here, and will be closely monitoring the release of official budget documents next week. Stay tuned for more information and action steps to reach out to your Members of Congress about these cuts!
This does not seem to be inline with the goal of America First and bringing back jobs and creating jobs.
Posted by: Sandra Krebsbach | 05/22/2017 at 02:06 PM
Thanks for your comment Sandy -- we certainly agree!
Posted by: Alisha Hyslop | 05/23/2017 at 08:45 AM
Great information.
Daniel.
Posted by: Daniel Shikuku | 06/28/2017 at 07:55 AM