AERA Weighs in on FY 2023 Funding Priorities for Education Research and Statistics


May 2022

Throughout April and May, AERA submitted testimony and joined letters from several coalitions highlighting priorities to support education research, statistics, and evidence-based practices in education.

On May 11, AERA submitted testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-H) recommending at least $815 million for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and $49 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in fiscal year (FY) 2023.

In the testimony, AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine highlighted examples of how work supported by IES has led to interventions and measurement tools used in classrooms across the U.S. In addition, she referenced findings from two recent reports from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine highlighting the limited funding of IES and the National Center for Education Statistics specifically compared with other federal research agencies.

As funding and staff resources are needed to implement the recommendations from The Future of Education Research at IES and A Vision and Roadmap for Education Statistics, she urged the Labor-H subcommittee to provide additional funding for the Research, Development, and Dissemination; Research in Special Education; Statistics; and Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems line items within IES.

On May 13, AERA submitted testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. The recommendations included FY 2023 appropriations of at least $11 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and $2 billion for the Census Bureau. The testimony from Levine highlighted important programs within NSF, such as the Education and Human Resources and the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science directorates, and within the Census Bureau, such as the American Community Survey, that would benefit from increased funding.

AERA develops its priorities for federal appropriations requests related to education research and statistics in partnership with coalitions. AERA supports the following FY 2023 recommendations:

  • Friends of IES request of at least $815 million for IES
  • Coalition for National Science Funding of at least $11 billion for NSF (House | Senate)
  • Friends of NICHD request of $1.816 billion for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
  • Census Project request of $2 billion for the Census Bureau
  • Request of $60 million total ($35 million for CDC and $25 million for NIH) for firearm morbidity and mortality prevention research
  • Invest in What Works request that includes $815 million for IES and language supporting the implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act
  • Letter to appropriations leaders on strong allocations to be provided for the Labor-H and CJS bills