The United States Proposed Budget for Education for 2015 Reveals Where Education in the U.S. is headed.

First I have to start by reminding people that the United States should not have a budget for education at all; education is supposed to be in the hands of individual states.

That said, you can read the U.S. proposed budget in its entirety here. Following are some of the tidbits that jumped out at me.

The Federal Government wants to continue No Child Left Behind:

...To achieve even greater efficiencies and advance reforms that would improve student outcomes, Congress should enact the Administration’s proposal to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) [No Child Left Behind].

The Federal Government admits that they are bribing states to adopt Common Core and everything that goes along with it. The code name the feds use for Common Core is College- and Career-Ready (CCR) Standards.

The Administration’s signature reform measures, including RTT and [NCLB] Flexibility, advance this goal through supporting State and local efforts in the implementation of college- and career-ready (CCR) standards and aligned assessments, rigorous accountability systems intended to help close achievement gaps and turn around our lowest-performing schools, and new teacher and leader evaluation and support systems aimed at ensuring that every classroom has an effective teacher and every school an effective principal.

They are going to keep giving us money to expand our P20 systems:

$70 million for Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems, an increase of $35 million, to support expansion and enhancement of systems that support the integration of data on school-level finances, teacher and leader effectiveness, and academic achievement that can be used to analyze links between the distribution of educational resources and student outcomes, with the overall goal of improving the effectiveness and productivity of our education system.

They want to re-design our high schools:

$150 million for a new High School Redesign program to support the transformation of the high school experience by funding competitive grants to school districts and their partners to redesign high schools in innovative ways that better prepare students for college and career success...

This one seems kind of strange, since CC, or CCR as the feds like to call it, completely destroys STEM preparedness. And it will be interesting to see how they think they can fit this into the school day when teachers are already complaining about how there's no time to do what they already have to.

$110 million for STEM Innovation Networks to provide competitive awards to LEAs in partnership with institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, other public agencies, and businesses to transform STEM teaching and learning by accelerating the adoption of practices in P-12 education that help increase the number of students who seek out and are effectively prepared for postsecondary education and careers in STEM fields.

The federal government intends to spend money to specifically teach kids non-cognitive skills, "or 'soft skills' [which] are related to motivation, integrity, and interpersonal interaction. They may also involve intellect, but more indirectly and less consciously than cognitive skills. Soft skills are associated with an individual’s personality, temperament, and attitudes":

$10 million for a new Non-Cognitive Skills initiative, under the Fund for the Improvement of Education, that would provide competitive grants to district and researcher partnerships to develop and test interventions to improve students’ non-cognitive skills in the middle grades.

More money for Race to the Top bribes:

In 2015, the Administration is requesting $300 million for a new Race to the Top – Equity and Opportunity (RTT-Opportunity) initiative centered on improving the academic performance of students in the Nation’s highest poverty schools. The initiative would drive comprehensive change in how States and school districts identify and close longstanding educational opportunity and achievement gaps. There would be two types of required activities.
 
First, grantees would develop, implement, or enhance data systems...Second, grantees would use funds to develop, attract, and retain more effective teachers and leaders...In addition to the required activities, grantees would be expected to address other factors contributing to educational opportunity and achievement gaps. These include, for example, school safety; non-cognitive skills; expanded learning time; fair and appropriate school discipline policies; mental, physical, and social emotional supports; college and career counseling...Grantees would examine the use and alignment of existing Federal education resources, including Title I, Title II, and Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems to ensure consistency with their RTT-Opportunity plans...

They hope to dangle $378 million in front of states to help pay for assessments, and to develop and implement Common Core standards in other subjects:

The request for a reauthorized Assessing Achievement (State Assessments under current law) program would help States pay the costs, including technology-related costs, of developing and implementing assessments aligned with college- and career-ready (CCR) [Common Core] standards.

Formula and competitive funds would support continued implementation of the assessments currently required by the ESEA [No Child Left Behind], as well as the transition to CCR-based standards and assessments that would capture a fuller picture of what students know and are able to do.

Grantees also could use funds to develop and implement CCR standards and assessments in other subjects, such as science and history, needed to ensure that all students receive a well-rounded education.

...The Department would set aside $8.9 million of the fiscal year 2015 request to support a grant competition to enhance or improve State assessment systems, which could include improving the accessibility of assessments, developing computer-enhanced and/or other new assessments or assessment items, providing high-quality professional development for teachers using assessment data to improve instruction, obtaining technology to help administer or analyze assessments, and/or conducting research to contribute to assessment knowledge and quality.

And the feds want to dump $248 million into Charter Schools:

The Supporting Effective Charter Schools grants program would make competitive grants to SEAs [State Education Agencies], charter school authorizers, charter management organizations, LEAs [Local Education Agencies], and other nonprofit organizations to start or expand effective charter and other autonomous public schools; funds would also support charter schools facilities programs.

I did not read through the sections on

C. Special Education and Rehabilitative Services,
D. Career, Technical and Adult Education,
E. Student Financial Assistance, and
F.  High Education Programs.

But I did read the section on The Institute of Education Sciences. That's the fed's research department:

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) supports sustained programs of research, evaluation, and statistics to inform and provide solutions to the problems and challenges faced by schools and learners. Investment in research and statistics activities is critical in order to identify effective instructional and program practices, track student achievement, and measure the impact of educational reform. Through its four centers—the National Center for Education Research, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, and the National Center for Special Education Research—IES ensures that the Federal investment in education research, statistics, and evaluation is well-managed and relevant to the needs of educators and policymakers.

$70 million of the IES (Institute of Education Sciences) money would go to Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems:

This program supports competitive awards to State educational agencies to foster the design, development, and implementation of longitudinal data systems that enable States to use data on student learning, teacher performance, and college- and career-readiness to enhance the provision of education and close achievement gaps. Up to $10 million would be used for awards to public or private agencies and organizations to support activities to improve data coordination, quality, and use at the local, State, and national levels. The proposed $35.5 million increase would allow the Department to support $57 million in new grants emphasizing early childhood data linkages, promoting better use of data in analysis and policymaking, and integrating data on school-level finances, teacher and leader effectiveness, and academic achievement.

Finally, the feds plan to eliminate or consolidate some stuff, but my eyes are swimming at this point, so if you care enough you can follow the link up top to read through it yourself. There is also a list of links to some interesting appendices:

• Summary of Discretionary Funds
• Mandatory Funding in the Department of Education
• Summary of Mandatory Funds
• Advance Appropriations for the Department of Education
• Total Expenditures for Elementary and Secondary Education in the United States
• Detailed Budget Table by Program