WASHINGTON, DC—In response to the release of the Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget proposal, Alliance for Excellent Education President and CEO Deb Delisle offered the following statement:
“The U.S. Department of Education is responsible for ensuring that every child receives an excellent education regardless of his or her ZIP code. However, under the guise of promoting ‘educational freedom,’ President Trump’s budget would deprive our nation’s public schools of crucial resources needed to support historically underserved students by funding a federal tax credit scholarship program instead. Case in point: Hiding in a new block grant, President Trump is proposing a nearly $5 billion cut—20 percent less than the prior fiscal year—across 29 crucial programs, including Title I grants to support public schools serving high concentrations of students from low-income families. Jeopardizing funding that Congress set-aside to help our nation’s most vulnerable students, from homeless students to English learners to migrant students, by consolidating these programs into a much-smaller block grant is unconscionable.
We urge Congress to reject the proposed Elementary and Secondary Education for the Disadvantaged block grant and continue to provide robust, dedicated funding for critical programs including Title I, Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants, Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants, Education for Homeless Children and Youths, and Comprehensive Literacy Development.
Pathways to postsecondary education that integrate career and technical education, rigorous academics, and opportunities for students to earn college credit while in high school should be expanded. However, the increased funding for CTE and a few other programs is dwarfed by the proposed cuts and is a distraction from the damage that this budget would cause to our nation’s public schools and, most especially, students. The Department’s top priority should be investing in the future of our young people, not slashing the investments on which their future and our country’s future depends.”
Media Contact: Phillip Lovell
Vice President, Policy Development and Government Relations
(202) 261-9850
plovell@all4ed.org
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The Alliance for Excellent Education (All4Ed) is a Washington, DC–based national policy, practice, and advocacy organization committed to improving educational outcomes—and lives—of students, with a focus on those in middle and high school. We embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion and specifically advocate on behalf of all students who are historically underserved or marginalized. all4ed.org
