Skip to main content

Statement from Deborah Delisle, President and CEO of the Alliance for Excellent Education, on President Biden’s FY2022 Budget Request

For Release: June 2, 2021

Contact: Dorie Turner Nolt, 404.861.1127, dturnernolt@all4ed.org

“President Biden’s first budget proposal makes critical—and much needed—investments in education at every level from preschool through college, a 41% increase over the current year’s funding levels. As schools continue to grapple with the effects of the pandemic on students, teachers, and families, this infusion of resources is necessary to ensure a recovery for our education system and movement forward to eliminate pre-COVID opportunity gaps for America’s most vulnerable students. We applaud the expansion of free public education by four years—two years of preschool and two years of college—in the American Families Plan. We also are excited about the emphasis on college and career pathways with a budget proposal of $100 million for middle and high school career technical education innovation projects for students from low-income backgrounds that would provide high-quality, work-based learning and provide pathways to credentials, in addition to the $10 billion proposed over 10 years in mandatory funding for pathways through the American Jobs Plan. The budget also recognizes that schools need help addressing the mental and emotional challenges that students and teachers faced over the last year by investing $1 billion in a new grant program to help low-income schools hire more counselors, nurses, and mental health professionals. Finally, we applaud the move to invest more in Title I schools through an additional $20 billion program that we hope will not only address state and local funding inequities for these schools, but also will improve equity in access to advanced coursework. We look forward to working with Congress to see these proposals become reality. The time to stand for America’s youth is now and this budget works toward that goal.”

###

Deborah S. Delisle is the president and CEO of the Alliance for Excellent Education and served as assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education from 2012 to 2015. 

The Alliance for Excellent Education (All4Ed) is a Washington, DC–based national policy, practice, and advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that all students, particularly those underperforming and those historically underserved, graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship. all4ed.org