Dollars and Sense: What Will Obama’s Education Budget Look Like?
‘Tis the season: budget season.
As Hoosiers wait for the Indiana General Assembly to come out with a finalized state budget for fiscal years 2016 and 2017, America still awaits a budget proposal from President Barack Obama. Members of the Obama administration have hinted at details of his budget proposal for fiscal year 2016, due out sometime next month.
President Barack Obama unveils his 2016 budget request sometime in February. (Photo Credit: mirsasha/Flickr)
If history repeats itself, we might expect the president to increase his funding request for the federal Department of Education in 2016. Last year, he requested an appropriation of $68.6 billion – an increase of $1.3 billion from 2014, and almost $3 billion more than in 2013.
Education spending makes up about four percent of the annual national budget, according to the Federal Education Budget Project.
The USED’s elementary and secondary programs serve approximately 50 million students in close to 17,000 school districts annually. Department programs also provide assistance to more than 13 million postsecondary students.
Here in Indiana, Gov. Mike Pence named education as one of four main priorities in his recommended budget for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. K-12 and higher education spending combined would make up about 60 percent of that budget.
As we’ve reported, Pence’s initiatives for Hoosier schools would work toward two larger goals: getting 100,000 more students in B or better schools and achieving a five-fold increase in high schoolers graduating with an industry-recognized credential, both by the year 2020.
How do the governor’s plans for Indiana measure up against the president’s?
According to reports from Education Week, Obama’s budget request will include $2.7 billion for increased spending on federal K-12 programs. Gov. Pence intends to increase K-12 school funding by two percent in 2016, and one percent the following year – an increase of more than $200 million over the biennium.
A cornerstone of the president’s 2015 agenda for higher education is making college more affordable, perhaps most prominently through his proposal to make community college tuition-free. Although not one of the biggest selling points in his budget, Gov. Pence has also asked for funding “to enhance college affordability,” including a $27 million increase for student financial aid next year.
The two lawmakers also appear to share priorities when it comes to preschool (although they’ve disagreed about how to pay for it in the past). Last year, Obama said he wants $75 billion over 10 years for his “Preschool for All” initiative. Pence has asked the General Assembly this budget session to maintain the $10 million per year it has already approved for the “On My Way Pre-K” pilot.
Some of Pence’s other big ideas include increased funding for career and technical education, focusing on charter schools, and kicking off his “Freedom to Teach” initiative – a program we don’t know much about yet, although we do know the governor has asked for $2 million per year to support it.
We’ll have to wait and see whether or not the governor’s priorities align with the president’s when he makes his formal budget request in February.
