Congress has agreed on a fiscal 2018 spending plan that includes funding for school safety measures and does not include several changes and cuts sought by President Trump, who had called for a $9.2 billion cut in discretionary education spending. The approved plan would increase spending by $2.6 billion over previous 2018 fiscal year levels. Increases will be seen in Title I programming; Special education grants; Title IV block grant funding that could be used for, among other things, school safety; funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, charter school aid, and additional investments in early childhood programs. Funding for Title II programs that provide for professional development for educators is level-funded. There is no funding for either a proposed $250 million private school choice initiative or a $1 billion program to encouraged open enrollment in school districts. The spending plan also includes provisions under the Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act, providing $75 million in funding for school safety purposes such as metal detectors, lighting, locks, and other safety and security tools, including school safety assessments.

President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have released their proposed budget for the 2019 fiscal year, which channels more than $1 billion to be spent on private school vouchers and other school choice plans. The budget proposal also calls for cutting $3.6 billion from the USDE by eliminating a total of 29 discretionary programs, including federal funding for some after-school programming for needy children; eliminating funding for the $2 billion Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants Program (Title II, Part A) of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) as well as the $1.2 billion 21st Century Community Learning Centers program (21st CCLC, Title IV, Part B) of the ESSA; professional development for teachers; Special Olympics; and a grant program for college students with exceptional financial need. The budget proposes the deepest funding cuts to the USDE since the Reagan administration was in office. Last year, USDE rolled back steps taken by the Obama administration that protected transgender students when it came to the right of transgender students to use the restroom at school that corresponds with their gender identity. Now the USDE, under the leadership of DeVos, has stated that it will not hear complaints about or take action on the right of transgender boys or girls to use the school restroom that corresponds with their gender identity. Recently, USDE had dismissed several discrimination cases regarding transgender student bathroom use. The reasoning now used by the USDE is that Title IX does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity. Similarly, access to accommodations such as restrooms, or presumably locker rooms, based on the sex of the student and not gender identity is also not considered a form of discrimination prohibited by Title IX. Opponents to this position claim that this new policy statement is contrary to court rulings on these issues which have stated that denying transgender students appropriate bathroom access in accordance with their gender identity is a violation of Title IX.

The three-day government shutdown ended with Congress voting to approve a short-term bill that will fund federal operations through February 8, 2018. It will also fully fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through fiscal year 2023. President Trump quickly signed the continuing resolution (CR) into law on the evening of Monday, January 22, 2018. The CHIP program, which provides coverage to children in families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance, had seen its funding technically expire back on October 1, 2017, although a temporary spending bill in December kept the program going through March 2018 maintaining coverage for an estimated nine million children. Nonetheless, more than 20 states were looking at CHIP funding shortfalls by the end of January 2018. Although CHIP is saved for six more years, the CR neglected to extend funding for Community Health Centers, which are also seeing their funding running out.

When HR 1 became federal law on December 22, 2017, it contained a provision that allows families to use 529 plans to pay for expenses for tuition in connection with enrollment or attendance at an elementary or secondary public, private, or religious school up to $10,000 per year, per beneficiary.

Pennsylvania has two 529 plans. The PA 529 Guaranteed Savings Plan allows families to save at today’s lower credit rates, with growth being based on tuition inflation. Thus, if a family saves enough for one semester at a state university today, they will have enough for a semester at that school in the future. The other plan, the PA 529 Investment Plan, provides returns on contributions that are based on investment performance of a family’s choice that range from aggressive to conservative.

As expected, the new provision has generated passionate responses that both criticize and praise the change.

On Tuesday, January 16, 2018 the US Department of Education approved Pennsylvania’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan. PA’s approved plan includes: implementing a Career Ready Indicator that will highlight school success in career exploration activities, including at the elementary level; reducing chronic absenteeism; and long-term goals that include reducing the statewide percentage of non-proficient and non-graduating students by 50% by 2030, increasing the number of students who achieve proficiency on PSSA and Keystone Exams, and supporting English Language Learners in growth toward achieving English proficiency.

Approval of the plan was required in order to receive federal funding.

Many have been pleased with a part of the plan that is expected to result in third- through eighth-graders spending an average of 20% less time on state-mandated standardized testing.