Secretary Betsy DeVos testified in front of the House and Senate Education Subcommittees about the Trump Administration’s request to cut 10-12% from the Department of Education in fiscal year 2020.

If enacted, these cuts would include the elimination of several major programs like the $2.1 billion Title II-A educator professional development program, the $1.17 billion Title IV-A flexible block grant, the $1.2 billion 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, the consolidation of GEAR Up and TRIO grants, the elimination of PSLF, and billions in cuts to student loan programs.

Despite the proposals to cut Title II-A and Title IV-A, the proposal includes $200 million for a “teacher voucher program” that would allow educators to customize their own professional development and $200 million for grants to states for school safety––a funding swap that many Democratic members commented made no sense.

Chairman Roy Blunt (R- MO) noted during the hearing that these cuts are not the will of the Secretary, but a result of the Budget Control Act, which required the President to write his budgets at a 9% cut. With that recognition though, he and Ranking Member Murray (D-WA) assured the Secretary that the Committee would work to pass a bipartisan bill, as they have done the last several years, that would not enact these cuts to education programs in FY20.