FACT SHEET: PRESIDENT TRUMP’S FY 2019 BUDGET

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A New Foundation for American Greatness

Prioritizing Students, Empowering Parents

“The President’s budget request expands education freedom for America’s families while 

protecting our nation’s most vulnerable students....The budget also reflects our commitment to 

spending taxpayer dollars wisely and efficiently by consolidating and eliminating ineffective 

federal programs that are better handled at the state or local level. I look forward to working 

with Congress to pass a budget that puts students first and returns power in education to where 

it belongs: with states, districts and families.”

— Betsy DeVos, U.S. Secretary of Education

The six major themes in the President’s FY 2019 Budget:

• Providing better choices for more families to attend a high-quality school

• Supporting high-quality special education services to children with disabilities

• Creating new and alternative pathways to successful careers for students

• Promoting innovation and reform around STEM education

• Implementing school-based opioid abuse prevention strategies

• Making the Department more efficient while limiting the Federal role in education

The President’s Budget provides $63.2 billion in discretionary funding, a 

$3.6 billion or 5 percent decrease below the 2017 enacted level.

The Budget eliminates, streamlines or reduces 39 discretionary programs that duplicate 

other programs, are ineffective; or are more appropriately supported with State, local, or 

private funds.

The Budget supports $129.8 billion in new postsecondary grants, loans, and work-study 

assistance to help an estimated 11.5 million students and their families pay for college.

More Choices for More Families

The FY 2019 Budget provides $1.5 billion in support of the President’s long-term goal of 

giving every student the opportunity to attend a school of his or her choice.

• Expands both private and public school choices, particularly for students from low-income 

families or attending schools identified for improvement under the Elementary and 

Secondary Education Act, through a new $1 billion Opportunity Grants program.

— States could apply for funding to provide scholarships to students from lowincome families that could be used to transfer to a private school. 

— LEAs participating in the Department’s weighted student funding (WSF) pilot 

could request funds to build on the flexibility provided by WSF systems by 

establishing or expanding open enrollment systems.
FACT SHEET: PRESIDENT TRUMP’S FY 2019 BUDGET

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• Provides $500 million, an increase of $160 million or nearly 50 percent, to strengthen state 

and local efforts to start new charter schools or expand and replicate existing highperforming charter schools, including by providing up to $100 million to meet the growing 

demand for charter school facilities.

• The Budget also would expand the Direct Student Services set-aside in Title I from 3 percent 

to 5 percent to encourage States to leverage more Title I funds to support public school 

choice options, including ensuring that disadvantaged students trapped in low-performing 

schools have the opportunity to transfer to another, higher-performing school or take 

advantage of advanced coursework or career preparation classes not available in their regular 

schools.

High-Quality Special Education Services to Children with Disabilities

The President is committed to ensuring that high-quality special education and related 

services meet the unique needs of children with disabilities and their families.

• Maintains the Federal investment in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Grants to 

States program to help offset the cost of providing special education and related services to 

approximately 6.8 million children with disabilities.

• Fully supports states, institutions of higher education, and other organizations to support a 

variety of activities to help ensure that high-quality special education and related services are 

available to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities and their families.

More Pathways to Successful Careers

The FY 2019 Budget promotes multiple pathways to successful careers while minimizing 

costs to students and families. 

• Protects the Pell Grant program by level funding the discretionary appropriation, which

would continue to make college more affordable for an estimated 7.6 million students by 

maintaining the maximum award of $5,920. 

• Expands Pell Grant recipients’ eligibility to include high quality short-term programs that 

provide students with a credential, certification, or license in an in-demand field, with 

sufficient guardrails in place to balance students’ needs with protecting taxpayers’ interests. 

• Strengthens career and technical education (CTE) programs through a $1.1 billion request 

(level funding) for a reauthorized Perkins CTE State grants program that would increase 

support for high school CTE programs, promote and expand apprenticeships, prioritize CTE 

STEM programs (especially in high school), and target services to disadvantaged students.

• Provides $501 million for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), MinorityServing Institutions (MSIs), and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) through the HEA Title 

III and V programs to help close gaps among racial and socioeconomic groups in college 

enrollment and degree attainment by improving these institutions’ academic programs, 

institutional capacity and student support services. 
FACT SHEET: PRESIDENT TRUMP’S FY 2019 BUDGET

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• Reforms the poorly-targeted Federal Work-Study program to support workforce and careeroriented training opportunities for low-income undergraduate students.

Promoting Innovation and Reform in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics 

(STEM) Education

The FY 2019 Budget better equips America’s young people with the relevant knowledge and 

skills needed to secure high-paying, stable jobs throughout their careers.

• Consistent with the Presidential Memorandum on STEM education, the FY 2019 Budget 

includes $200 million in new grants to improve STEM education. 

• $180 million for competitive Education Innovation and Research grants that would 

support evidence-based strategies and interventions to improve student achievement in 

STEM fields, including computer science.

• $20 million for awards to consortia of secondary and postsecondary providers that would 

work with employers and local workforce agencies to create innovative career and 

technical education programs in STEM fields, including computer science, that are 

aligned with regional workforce and labor market needs.

Implementation of School-based Opioid Abuse Prevention Strategies

The FY 2019 Budget supports schools in affected communities that have been devastated by 

the opioid crisis to meet the academic and mental health needs of their students. 

• Provides $43 million for School Climate Transformation grants and related technical 

assistance that can help build State and local capacity to implement evidence-based 

strategies to mitigate the impacts of the opioid epidemic on students and schools.

Making the Department More Efficient while Reducing the Federal Role in Education

The FY 2019 Budget saves taxpayers $6.7 billion by streamlining or eliminating ineffective 

and redundant programs.

• Eliminates, streamlines or reduces funding for 39 discretionary programs that duplicate other 

programs, are ineffective, or are more appropriately supported with State, local, or private 

funds. 

• Streamlines and consolidates programs to achieve management efficiencies, focus Federal 

investments on activities supported by evidence, and reduce the Federal role in education. 

Examples include transitioning TRIO to a single State formula and merging six duplicative 

HEA Title III and V competitive grant authorities into a single institutional formula. 

• Supports Federal Student Aid (FSA) in undertaking a monumental student loan servicing 

upgrade. FSA is reorganizing its fragmented servicing and operating infrastructure in order 

to provide an innovative, world-class financial services experience for its customers.