WiRSA Update - May 8, 2024

Update From CEF (Center for Education Funding)

Policy Intelligence and Education News

• Congress this week – The main action in the House this week is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), which is expected to fail as some Democrats will vote with virtually all Republicans to table the motion to vacate, scuttling the effort. In addition, the House and Senate will vote on the bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration, which is expected to be one of the last substantive bills to get enacted before the election apart from a vote to extend government funding before the new fiscal year begins on October 1. We’ll likely see House and Senate Appropriations Committee markups on fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding bills, but there could be no floor action on those bills until the lame duck session. Before all that, Appropriations leaders need to set toplines for defense and non-defense discretionary funding that include “adjustments” that allow additional spending above the statutory caps on each category set for this year. Democrats and Republicans have widely different views about how big those adjustments should be for defense and non-defense, and if the House and Senate set different totals, that makes it much harder to conference the resulting government funding bills.

• This week’s upcoming education-related hearings – The House Education and Workforce Committee is holding two hearings this week that will both have a focus on antisemitism in schools. I expect the hearing tomorrow with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will be contentious.

• “Examining the Education Department’s Policies, Priorities, and FY 2023 Financial Audit Failure” on Tuesday, May 7, at 10:15 ET, in the House Education and the Workforce Committee, with Secretary Miguel Cardona testifying.

• “Confronting Pervasive Antisemitism in K-12 Schools” on Wednesday, May 8, at 10:15am ET, in the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education. Witnesses not yet announced.

• “A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request for the Department of Labor” on Thursday, May 9, at 10:00am ET, in the Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee, with Secretary Julie Su testifying.

• (in two weeks) “Calling for Accountability: Stopping Antisemitic College Chaos” on Thursday, May 23, at 10:15am ET, in the House Education and the Workforce Committee. No witnesses yet announced.

II.  Advocacy

• CEF written testimony to House Labor-HHS-Education on FY 2025 budget – CEF submitted the attached public witness testimony last week to the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee in support of greater federal education funding for FY 2025; it will soon be posted on CEF’s website with other letters CEF has written. We also plan to submit testimony to the Senate Subcommittee and encourage your organizations and institutions to consider submitting testimony in support of education funding. The Senate’s deadline to submit outside witness testimony is May 24, with guidance here.

• Sample social media post using CEF’s ad opposing cuts to education funding – Each week CEF provides a sample post that our members can use. The following post could be sent with the attached graphic (“Ed funding flat in years with caps on spending”) in support of investments in education :

• Education funding was cut or essentially held flat in years when arbitrary caps limited spending from 2013-2021 and again in 2024, yet education needs continue to grow. Urge Congress to invest in education for 2025 with the @edfunding toolkit at https://cef.org/advocacy/