NSTA
Legislative Update
December 31, 2007
Congress has passed, and President Bush is expected to sign, the giant omnibus budget bill that reconciles the House and Senate appropriations packages to provide funding for FY2008 federal programs. Here are the levels of funding key STEM education programs at the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education can expect next year.
National Science Foundation
The Omnibus bill provides $6,065,000,000 for the National Science Foundation in FY2008, an increase of $147.8 million or 2.5 percent over the current budget.
The FY2008 Omnibus bill also includes a $33 million rescission of “unobligated balances from prior year appropriations.” NSF has 30 days to develop a plan for implementing this rescission.
The previous House bill provided $6,499,000,000 and the Senate bill proposed $6,553,400,000.
The Bush Administration requested $6,429.0 million, an increase of 8.7 percent or $511.8 million over last year.
The FY 2007 budget for the National Science Foundation was $5,917.2 million.
National Science Foundation Education and Human Resources: The amended bill provides $725,600,000 for the Education and Human Resources account. This reflects a transfer of the EPSCoR account of $96 m from last year’s EHR account. Since the FY 2007 budget for Education and Human Resources is $796.7 million, after an adjustment is made for the transfer of EPSCoR, funding for EHR increases by 4 percent.
$822,600,000 was proposed in the House bill and $850,000,000 was proposed by the Senate.
The Bush Administration requested $750.6 million, a reduction of 5.8 percent or $46.1 million (that reflects the EPSCoR transfer.)
The Noyce Scholarship program received an additional $5m for FY2008. The bill also states that the Math and Science Partnerships “remain a high priority of the committee.”
Language from the explanatory statement on the Education and Human Resources account follows:
“NSF not only includes research, but also shares in the responsibility for promoting quality math and science education as intertwining objectives at all levels of education across the United States. Math and science educators play a major role in keeping the U.S. competitive in the 21st century. Increasing the number of highly qualified K-12 math and science teachers is critical to the creation of a new generation of innovators. Recommendations included in the National Academies’ Rising Above the Gathering Storm report discussed the importance of expanding programs to enhance the undergraduate education of the future science and engineering workforce. Within the amounts provided, an additional $5,000,000, for a total of $15,000,000 shall be provided for the Robert Noyce Scholarship program. The House had proposed $36,000,000 above the budget request and the Senate had proposed $15,000,000 above the budget request for this activity. The Robert Noyce Scholarship program encourages talented Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) undergraduate students and postgraduate professionals to become K-12 mathematics and science teachers.
The Math and Science Partnership program remains a high priority of the Committees. The Math and Science Partnership program provides for the collaboration between pre-college and college to promote excellence in teaching and learning.
The Committees reiterate the direction provided in the House report that the Foundation provide the Committees with a detailed breakdown of funding disbursements for fiscal year 2006 and urge NSF to work within its peer-review process for these programs to incorporate rural communities, universities, and school districts.
The Committees are strongly supportive of the following programs and urge the Foundation to provide funding at the requested level for these programs: Undergraduate/Graduate Student Support account and the Graduate Teaching Fellowships in K-12; the NSF Academies for Young Scientists, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), the HBCU Undergraduate program, the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), the Tribal Colleges and Universities program (TCUP) and STEM Talent Expansion program.
Further the Committees support the Foundation’s request for the Advanced Technology Education (ATE) and the Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST).The conferees urge the Foundation to broaden Hispanic participation and expect that NSF will begin to address this issue in its operating plan.
Finally, the amended bill does not provide funds for Earth observatory education and training as proposed by the House.”
National Science Foundation Research: $4.8 billion, $156 million above 2007, increasing science and research to ensure the U.S maintains its position as a global leader in scientific research and technology.
Department of Education
The FY2008 omnibus provides $59.4 billion for programs at the U.S. Department of Education, rejecting the President’s $1.2 billion cut and $2 billion above 2007.
Math and Science Partnerships at the U. S. Department of Education were funded at $178,978,000. Last year this program received $182 million. The House bill funding was $197,826,000 and the Senate bill funding was $184,000,000.
Bachelors Degrees in STEM and Critical Foreign Languages received $983,000. The Senate bill provided $6,000,000 for this program and no funding was included in the House bill. The amended bill included $1,000,000 for this initiative.
Master Degrees in STEM and Critical Foreign Languages received $983,000. The Senate bill also provided $6,000,000 for this program, and no funding was included in the House bill. The amended bill included $1,000,000 for this initiative.
Education Technology State Grants received $267,494 in FY2008; the President did not seek funding for this program.
Title I: $14.5 billion, $1.6 billion above 2007 and $109 million above the President’s request.
Teacher Quality State Grants: $3 billion, $73 million above 2007 and rejecting the President’s $100 million cut.
Special Education – IDEA Part B Grants: $11 billion, rejecting the President’s $291 million cut and $259 million above 2007, reversing a two-year decline in the Federal contribution to help states and localities to educate 6.9 million children with disabilities
After School Programs: $1.1 billion, $100 million above 2007 and the President’s request, providing after-school academic and enrichment services.
There was no language on the Math and Science Partnerships in the Labor HHS Explanatory Statement. Under the section Other Programs, committee language for the Advanced Placement program stipulates “The Department is encouraged to incorporate a priority for projects focused on the sciences, mathematics, and foreign languages in the fiscal year 2008 competition for new awards under the Advanced Placement Incentive Program.” The AP program received $$43,540,000 for FY 2008.