New Budget Values Education, but is Unlikely to Pass

Higher education got a lot of attention in President Obama’s FY 2013 budget proposal, which was unveiled on Feb. 13. The proposal allots $69.8 billion for the Education Department, an increase of $1.7 billion, or 2.4 percent, over last year’s budget, making it the largest percent increase in non-security discretionary request in the proposed budget. It maintains a small scheduled increase to the maximum Pell Grant, which would hit $5,635 for the 2014-2015 school year, an increase of $85. If enacted, the proposal would keep the Stafford loan interest rates at 3.4 percent for one more year, rather than allowing them to double as scheduled in July. This could save middle-income students who don’t receive Pell Grants a lot of money. And that’s not all.

The budget proposal also contains several new competitive grant programs for higher education. The $55 million First in the World program is designed to boost college access and completion. The $1 billion Race to the Top College Affordability and Completion program is aimed at controlling costs, maintaining affordability, and improving student outcomes. Further, the budget proposes reforming the funding formula for campus-based aid so that institutions would receive aid based on how well they keep tuition down. Although details of each of these programs remain vague, it’s clear that the administration is sharpening its focus on the performance of institutions of higher education.

Title I, which helps low-income schools, would be funded again at $14.5 billion, and many of the president’s signature competitive grant programs, including Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation Program, Promise Neighborhoods, and School Turnaround Grants, would receive level funding or slight increases.

The budget also proposes changes for Title II, which funds efforts by states and districts to improve teacher quality. These changes would allow states and districts to set aside 25 percent of their funding to build evidence on ways to recruit, prepare, and support effective teachers and principals. The budget would also create a $5 billion competitive grant fund for states and districts to work with teachers and unions to reform the teaching profession. It allots $190 million to reform the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant program by incorporating a new teaching fellowship. The Presidential Teaching Fellows program would provide states with money for scholarships for students who attend proven teacher preparation programs in the state, and commit to teaching for at least three years in a high-need school. To participate, states would have to commit to measuring the effectiveness of their preparation programs, based in part on their graduates’ success in boosting student achievement.

There are things to like in this budget — particularly the focus on accountability for teacher preparation programs, controlling skyrocketing college costs, and improving college completion. But, there are also a lot of questions about what each of these proposals looks like in detail.

Further, the Budget Control Act of 2011 already established funding levels for fiscal year 2013, and both Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) have suggested that they won’t take up the president’s budget this year. Thus, the White House budget proposal is more a recitation of the administration’s education priorities than it is a blueprint for congressional action.

— Kate Tromble