Joint Statement from Education, Civil Rights, and Immigration Advocates on the FY 2024 House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill

As education, civil rights, and immigration organizations focused on the success of marginalized students, we work to ensure all of our nation’s students have the resources and support they need to be successful. The partisan Fiscal 2024 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill recently introduced in the House of Representatives is devastating to students and teachers across the country at a time when they are struggling to recover from the impacts of the pandemic. It makes unprecedented cuts that would undermine a range of federal programs that have had broad and long-standing bipartisan support because of the critical role they play in all our communities.

Among other damaging provisions, the bill includes an 80% cut to the Title I program, which could result in a loss of more than 220,000 teachers from low-income schools. The bill eliminates investments in effective teaching and support for several million students who are learning English, along with funds for Promise Neighborhoods, Social and Emotional Learning grants, Teacher Quality Partnerships, Hawkins Centers of Excellence, and much more. On top of these cuts, the House bill would eliminate efforts to advance racial equity and promote diversity via poison pill riders.

This bill is a vicious attack on public education and on low-income communities and students of color. We urge the full House to reject this shameful bill and come to the table with the Senate and Administration to craft a bill that properly invests in and supports our nation’s students and educators.

All4Ed
Center for American Progress
Education Reform Now
The Education Trust
The National Center for Learning Disabilities
UnidosUS