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House Republicans are planning to zero out the budgets for programs that support student parents who need childcare and that help improve the quality of prospective and new teachers, among other cuts.
As the House gears up to consider the Labor–Health and Human Services spending bill, which also includes the Education Department’s budget, lawmakers released more information about what exactly is in the legislation that controls nearly $200 billion in discretionary funding for all agencies—including $67.5 billion for the Education Department.
A vote on the bill hasn’t been scheduled, but the deadline to submit amendments was Nov. 3. The legislation is one of 12 appropriations bills that make up the federal budget. Funding for the government runs out Nov. 17, under a short-term resolution passed at the end of September to avert a government shutdown. The House and Senate are sharply divided over how much to spend for the fiscal year and where to put that money—making an agreement on the entire budget by next Friday unlikely.
The budget report confirms that House Republicans are planning to eliminate funding for Federal Work-Study and the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants. Instead of those programs, which provide funding to about 2.36 million students, the Appropriations Committee recommended prioritizing funding for Pell Grants. The House budget does not increase the maximum award for the Pell Grant.
House Republicans also want to cut $30 million from the Postsecondary Student Success Grant program, leaving $15 million available to fund evidence-based programs and strategies designed to improve outcomes for underserved students. The Biden administration wanted $165 million for the program, which received $45 million in the most recent federal budget.
The spending plan allocates $5 million toward two new programs to support Hispanic-serving institutions. But the Republican plan would prevent the department from moving forward with some of its intended changes to the student loan system, including the new income-driven repayment program, and would also block it from carrying out new regulations for Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 that would protect transgender student athletes and reverse Trump-era rules.
