Senate Holds ED Budget Hearing

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies held a meeting on Thursday, May 11, 2023, to discuss the President’s fiscal year 2024 funding request for the Department of Education (ED). A five minute testimony by U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona followed opening statements by Committee Chair Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). All expressed their concerns about the student learning loss during COVID-19 and the recent release of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results in reading, math, civics, and history.

Baldwin supported the Administration’s budget proposal and expressed concern over the House passed budget which cuts key programs such as IDEA and would result in a reduction of 100,000 teachers at a time of grave shortage.

Capito was equally concerned about learning loss but pointed to states’ abilities to provide services themselves. She cast doubt that federal dollars would affect the goals of ED and stated that IDEA and other programs are better off in the hands of the states. To support her claim, Senator Capito highlighted that West Virginia already provides universal preschool without federal funding and that corporate involvement such as a partnership between Toyota and local high schools and technical education training programs exemplifies what the ED desires to achieve.

Listen to a recording of the hearing here.