FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. August 2, 2024 -- Yesterday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved on a 25-3 vote its Fiscal Year 2025 Labor HHS Education bill. Overall, the Labor HHS Education bill represents a significant funding upgrade from the House Appropriations Committee’s version. Where the House bill proposed to cut approximately $11.1 billion from the Department of Education’s budget and eliminate 17 programs, the Senate bill would actually increase the Department’s funding by more than $900 million and retain all programs. As in previous years, the Senate focused on making significant additions to the major Title programs – Title I (+$280 million), IDEA (+$300 million) – while level funding or providing only small increases to other K-12 and Higher Education programs.
For language education, the news in the Labor HHS Education bill was largely positive. Title III, English Language Acquisition, received a $5 million increase in the Senate bill, a significant victory considering the House proposed to eliminate all funds for it. Title IV-A, the flexible block grant that some districts use for language education programs, was accorded a $10 million increase over last year, which is the same that it received in the House bill. Title II-A, the professional development grant program that the House also proposed to eliminate, received level funding in the Senate bill. Title VI of the Higher Education Act, which sustained a more than $4 million cut in the House bill, was level funded in the Senate bill. Indian Education,
Native Hawaiian Education, Alaska Native Education, and Native American Language Resource Center were all flat-funded.
In Higher Education, the Senate bill ignored the House’s elimination of the Teacher Quality Partnerships program, $4.133 million cut to the Higher Education Act’s Title VI International Programs section, and $53 million reduction of the Institute for Education Sciences’ (IES) budget. All three programs received at least level funding, with IES actually garnering a $5 million increase.
The Department of Defense’s FY25 spending bill, which the Committee approved on a unanimous vote, included only $10 million for the World Language Advancement and Readiness Grant Program. While this is the same level as last year, it is still $5 million less than the House FY25 Defense spending bill included and $5 million less than FY23’s final appropriated level. JNCL-NCLIS will continue to work to show Congress WLARA’s value and restore the program to its $15 million funding level.
Beyond funding, the Committee’s Labor HHS Education Legislative Report accompanying its bill offered recommendations on a number of policy issues. In the Title II Section, the Committee assailed OELA for championing English-only approaches: “The Committee is concerned that the Office of English Language Acquisition has overemphasized English-only approaches for the education of English language learner students, to the detriment of bilingual and dual language approaches. These approaches have proven more effective in the teaching of English, as well as academic content such as reading, math, science, and social studies. The Committee supports initiatives to build multilingual teacher pipelines through Grow-Your-Own initiatives and provide professional development in multilingual education for existing school staff and
teachers. The Committee also supports efforts for post-secondary fellowships to bolster the multilingual educator pipeline.”
In the Indian Education section, the Committee supported efforts to address educator shortages by using $72 million “for demonstration grants to improve Indian student achievement from early childhood education through college preparation programs, and for professional development grants for training Indians who are preparing to begin careers in teaching and school administration.” It also recommended expending “$30,000,000 in new grants for professional development, including for the teacher retention initiative, to assist eligible entities, including Tribal colleges and universities, with addressing the need for teachers and administrators serving Indian students.” Finally, the Committee supported using 20% of National Activities funds for Native American Language Immersion program grants.
For Title VI of HEA, the Committee focused on the importance of preparing HBCU and MSI students for foreign policy careers through the Institute for International Public Policy (IIPP). Specifically, the Committee notes: “Title VI of the HEA authorizes grants to establish an IIPP. This funding supports a consortium of one or more HBCUs or MSIs to develop career pathways for students from underrepresented backgrounds to develop language competence, engage in overseas study, participate in foreign policy seminars, and acquire internship experiences. The Committee supports a relaunch of this program to assist the State Department, USAID, and other international affairs agencies in recruiting top talent at a time when complex global challenges are on the rise amidst ongoing staffing shortages.”
Congress is now in recess until September. When it returns, it will have very few days left to legislate before recessing for the election. Thus, it is unlikely that either the full House or the full Senate will consider on the floor their respective version of the FY25 Labor HHS Education Appropriations bill. Instead, it is anticipated that Congress will pass a Continuing Resolution, a temporary budget measure, to keep the government operating from October 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year, until December. Only when the results of the November elections are clear will congress begin negotiating final funding levels for federal education programs.
Below is a breakdown of key K-12 program funding levels:
_____________________________
About JNCL-NCLIS: Established in 1972, the Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCL) and the National Council for Languages and International Studies (NCLIS) unites a national network of leading organizations and businesses comprised of over 300,000 language professionals to advocate for equitable language learning opportunities. Our mission is to ensure that Americans have the opportunity to learn English and at least one other language.
Contact: info@languagepolicy.org
コメント