Duncan before Appropriations

Secretary Duncan testified before the House Education Appropriation Committee earlier this week:

During his recent testimony before the House Education Appropriations Subcommittee, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan blasted House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-WI) FY13 budget proposal to slash federal spending, which the White House estimates would result in a more than 5 percent cut (-$784 million) to Title I grants (currently $14.5 billion) in FY13 and a 19 percent cut (-$2.7 billion) in FY14. Duncan also warned against the devastating consequences of sequestration—automatic cuts that will chop education funding by as much as 9 percent in January 2013—saying, "it is unconscionable for us to ask a generation of students to pay the price for adult political dysfunction."

But Duncan also found himself on the receiving end of bipartisan criticism about education funding from subcommittee Chairman Denny Rehberg (R-MT) and ranking Democrat Rosa DeLauro (CT). They share concerns that President Obama’s FY13 budget request emphasizes funding for new competitive grant programs at the expense of investments in cornerstone federal K–12 programs like Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).