The countdown to a government shutdown—or another continuing resolution—has begun again. Shortly after his election, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) released a schedule for House action on all 12 annual funding bills. The FY2024 education bill is slated for the week of Nov. 13, just days before funding runs out.
The House GOP’s bill—which never made it out of committee, but could come directly to the floor—reduces education funding by 28 percent overall. The biggest cuts are in programs for the students most in need.
The bill slashes Title I funding by 80 percent, eliminates Title II grants to recruit and retain educators, eliminates more than 50,000 Head Start slots, and cripples programs for English learners.
While terminating multiple programs to make higher education possible for low-income students, the bill simultaneously blocks meaningful reform of federal student debt programs.
It would also wipe out as many as 248,000 educator jobs, leading to larger class sizes and less individual attention—the opposite of what today’s students need.
Education funding has already declined by $13 billion (after adjusting for inflation) due to cuts and caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011. The House GOP’s bill goes even further, and would make it impossible to fulfill America’s promise of equal opportunity.
In addition to emailing your senators and representative, urge the Department of Labor to include teachers in a new rule that makes more workers eligible for overtime pay—as one of our members says, a change that “will benefit not just teachers but schools and students.” The window for submitting comments is about to close, so act today!
In solidarity,
Marc Egan
Government Relations Director
National Education Association
Tell the Department of Labor you support the proposed expansion of overtime pay for workers making under $55,000 and that teachers should also receive this benefit.
CHEER: 163 members of the House signed a letter urging President Biden and congressional leadership to reject more than 40 anti-LGBTQI+ riders included in FY2024 House appropriations bills.
CHEER: Reps. Sean Casten (D-IL) and Lois Frankel (D-FL) reintroduced the Stop Sexual Harassment in K-12 Act to combat sexual harassment, assault, and sex-based discrimination by creating clear standards and funding streams for schools to uphold students’ Title IX rights.
CHEER: Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Maria Salazar (R-FL) introduced the bipartisan Immigration Court Efficiency and Children’s Court Act to combat the immigration court backlog and strengthen due process rights for unaccompanied migrant children.
CHEER: Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) introduced the Office of Colonias and Farmworker Initiatives Establishment Act to create an office within the Department of Agriculture to coordinate and lead efforts to address the needs of border communities, farmworkers, and farmworker families nationwide.
