July 2016
On July 14, the House Appropriations Committee passed the Labor, Health and Human Services (Labor-HHS), and Education spending bill for the 2017 fiscal year (FY). The legislation would cut funding for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) by $82 million, or 13.3 percent, from $618 million to $536 million for FY 2017. As reported in the June AERA Highlights, the Senate version of the bill calls for a much smaller cut—$5.5 million—to IES, down 1 percent from FY 2016.
AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine sent a letter to House Appropriations Committee members stating opposition to the cuts to IES.
“These cuts would have a major impact on the education research community and would negatively affect the production of knowledge for years to come,” Levine wrote. “If these cuts are part of a final budget agreement, the biggest losers will be students across the country who would otherwise benefit from advances in research and from the cumulative, well-warranted knowledge that enable them to succeed.”
The bulk of the cuts for IES in the House bill are for Research, Development, and Dissemination, which would see a cut of $40.5 million. The National Assessment of Educational Progress and the National Assessment Governing Board would see a combined decrease of $20.5 million from FY 2016. The following table includes detailed information on the various funding proposals for IES:
Appropriations Proposals for IES (in $ millions)
FY 2016 (enacted)
FY 17 President Request
FY 17 Senate (proposed)
FY 17 House (proposed)
IES Total
618
694
612
536
Research, Development, and Dissemination
195
209
190
154
Statistics
112
125
103
Regional Educational Laboratories
54
Research in Special Education
49
Special Education Studies and Evaluation
11
13
Statewide Data Systems
35
81
27
Assessment
157
156
137
During the House Labor-HHS subcommittee’s markup of the bill on July 7, subcommittee ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced an amendment that would restore funding for the programs targeted for cuts in the bill to FY 2016 levels. The amendment was rejected on a party-line vote. Rep. DeLauro introduced a similar amendment at the full committee markup to restore funding for some programs slated for cuts—including IES.
While this marks the second year in a row that a Labor-HHS bill has moved through the full committee, the likelihood of a House vote is low. The growing expectation on Capitol Hill is that funding for FY 2017 eventually will be advanced in a continuing resolution.
AERA has engaged in several activities in seeking increased funding for IES: