On Feb. 10, President Donald Trump unveiled his budget request for Congress’ consideration. The request provided more specificity to various proposals identified in the Feb. 5 State of the Union speech.  The proposal includes a significant increase for Career Technical Education programs to the tune of $900 million. In addition, the president includes $5 billion for his school voucher proposal titled the “Education Freedom Scholarships.” Conversely, the overall U.S. Department of Education budget is cut by 7.8 percent, equivalent to $5.8 billion. The president’s investment in CTE builds on the reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Act and includes $2 billion for state grants and $90 million for CTE National Programs that support science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computer science. The Education Freedom Scholarships are tax credits that allow states to design scholarship programs that provide tuition at private schools. The president’s budget also provides $13 million for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part B. This is a $100 million increase for IDEA Part B grants. While the president invests in CTE and vouchers, his proposal makes significant changes and cuts in other areas. The proposal includes a consolidation of 29 federal grant programs into a newly created Elementary and Secondary Education for the Disadvantaged Block Grant. The new block grant combines programs such as 21st Century Learning Centers, Charter Schools, English Language Acquisition, Homeless Education and School Safety programs. All 29 programs will be allocated to state education departments and allocated similar to Title I programs. However, the block grant comes with a $4.7 billion reduction in overall funding. In terms of the fight against hunger and poverty in America, the steep cuts that the president proposed to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are upwards of $180 million. Additional proposals include cutting school meals by $1.7 billion over the next 10 years, these cuts would reduce the number of schools eligible to implement the Community Eligibility Provision. Congress and the public have historically rejected these harsh cuts. Other takeaways include an infrastructure proposal that does not include school facilities, as well as $760 million increase to Career, Technical, and Adult Education to help more Americans to obtain relevant skills and funding for modernization grants.  With an election upon us, it is unlikely that Congress will move swiftly to pass a budget in 2020. We can expect another long and drawn-out process before Congress finalizes the budget for the 2021 fiscal year.  ACSA staff will keep members posted as budget negotiations arise.