Trump Administration Releases Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Request

The Trump administration’s requested fiscal year 2018 budget, released this week, proposes reductions in funding in aspects of education, health care and research—areas with possible implications for communication sciences and disorders. There is, however, proposed new funding for a school-choice grant program. Like all presidential budgets, it next undergoes consideration by Congress. ASHA expects that it will likely change considerably as it works its way through both houses of Congress. Education The Trump FY18 budget request would eliminate 22 programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education—totaling more than $5.1 billion annually. The administration also proposes major changes in how students finance, pay back, and are forgiven debt for higher education. The federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program would be eliminated. This program forgives student debt to individuals who make 120 payments and work in public-service settings for 10 years. Separately, the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) state grants are slated to be cut by $113 million compared with FY17, dropping the federal share of funding special education from 16 percent to 15 percent. Total funding for Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act would go up with a newly proposed $1 billion school-choice grant program called Further Options for Children to Unlock Success (FOCUS). Health care The president’s budget call for $655 billion in cuts to programs under t...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Audiology Speech-Language Pathology Uncategorized budget communication sciences and disorders funding Source Type: blogs