Sequester At A Glance: The Impact of Reckless Cuts on Education in Maryland and Across the Country

The reckless, across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester could have a significant impact on education and job readiness programs that invest in our future. Unfortunately, the House has not considered any legislation to stop the sequester, threatening students’ education here in Maryland and across the country.

Here’s a closer look at how the sequester could affect education and youth programs as the impact of these cuts takes effect over the next few weeks and months:

IN MARYLAND:

• Maryland could lose approximately $14.4 million in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 200 teacher and aide jobs at risk. [White House]
• Approximately 800 fewer children could be enrolled in Head Start and Early Head Start. [White House]
• Around 770 fewer low income students could receive aid to help them finance college and around 440 fewer students could get work-study jobs that help them pay for college. [White House]
• Up to 400 disadvantaged and vulnerable children could lose access to child care. [White House]

FROM OUR LOCAL EDUCATION LEADERS:

• Lillian M. Lowery, Ed.D., Maryland State Superintendent of Schools: “Sequestration attacks education programs that serve our most vulnerable populations – special education students and students from economically disadvantaged households. Maryland schools count on these programs every day to help strengthen student achievement and prepare our graduates for the future. Our children are our country's most valuable resource. If we do not continue to invest in them and their education in substantive ways, we put our nation at risk.”
• Dr. Michael Martirano, Superintendent of St. Mary’s County Public Schools: “If sequestration occurs, it would cut approximately $500,000 from the St. Mary's County Public School’s operating budget. These cuts could trigger reductions of staff and services to Title I schools and to special education. This is significant in a school system budget that has already been trimmed back substantially.”
• Dr. Wallace Loh, President of the University of Maryland: “[Sequestration] will directly affect two critical areas of the University: financial aid and funded research… Reductions in federal work-study aid will affect over 200 of our undergraduates. The most at risk are in Maryland Pathways, a program that assists academically talented students from low-income backgrounds… Sequestration will affect in different ways the approximately 1,500 graduate research assistants and 2,300 research faculty and staff whose salaries are supported partly or wholly by grants from over a dozen federal funding agencies.”
• Dr. Joseph Urgo, President of St. Mary's College of Maryland: “Sequestration is a matter of serious concern on our campus. We stand to lose direct support for grants that support faculty and student summer work. The losses incurred by our good neighbors at NAVAIR will impact our community and support for our science and arts programs.”

NATIONWIDE:

Youth Education

• Cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Child Care and Development Fund could leave 30,000 low-income children without child care subsidies, denying them access to developmental programs. [White House]
• 70,000 young children could be kicked off Head Start. [White House]
• Title I education funds could be eliminated for more than 2,700 schools, cutting support for 1.2 million disadvantaged students. [White House]
• 4,300 fewer at-risk youth could have access to Job Corps education and skills training program. [House Committee on Appropriations]
• The Department of Education could see approximately $2.4 billion in cuts. [Report on Previous, Pending, and Future Cuts to Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education]

Higher Education

• The Marines have announced they have stopped their Military Education Tuition Assistance Program immediately as a result of the sequester, which could make it more difficult for active-duty Marines to afford to further their education. [Navy Live, 3/2]
• Funding for federal work study grants could be cut by $49 million and supplemental education opportunity grants could be cut by $37 million, both of which could affect students’ financial aid. [ABC News, 2/28]
• Student Loans: Origination fees on Stafford and PLUS loans could go up on July 1 for more than 10 million students who use them to pay for college [College Board, National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs]
• More than 100,000 students could lose major portions of their financial aid, and millions more could see their aid reduced by up to $876 a year. [Student Aid Alliance, 1/21]

Teachers and Staff

• Funding for up to 7,200 special education teachers, aides and staff could be cut. [White House]
• The Pentagon says it could be forced to furlough 15,000 military school teachers and staff around the world, with teachers being forced to take a day off each week. [POLITICO, 3/4]
• Title I reductions could put the jobs of approximately 10,000 teachers and aides at risk. [White House]
• The Impact Aid Basic Support Payments program could lose $60 million under sequestration[Secretary of Education, 2/14], significantly impacting 1,600 schools on Indian reservations and military bases [Washington Post, 3/5].
• Community and faith based organizations, small businesses, local governments and school systems could have to lay off over 14,000 teachers, teacher assistants and other staff. [White House]

FROM OUR EDUCATION LEADERS AND EXPERTS:

• Secretary of Education Arne Duncan: “So while we are having this conversation about fewer teachers, fewer school days, less opportunities to go to Head Start, less ability to pay for college, other nations, this is not how they are looking to improve their education system. This is not the conversation that is happening with our competitors in Singapore, in South Korea, in China, in India. … For us to be thinking about taking steps backwards in all of these areas because folks in Washington cannot get their act together, and a level of dysfunction in Congress that, it is just… unimaginable to me. I cannot tell you how troubling that is to me.” [Voice of America, 2/27]
• National Educational Association President Dennis Van Roekel: “The real consequences of the budget cuts—fewer educators, reading coaches, ballooning class sizes, and no after-school tutoring—are keeping educators and students up at night, and they are causing uncertainty and angst as school districts are making budgetary decisions for the upcoming school year. Most immediately, the cuts are jeopardizing the education of the daughters and sons of those who protect our nation—the women and men in uniform—as school districts on military bases here and abroad will feel the pinch first. As a nation, we can and should do better than to shortchange them.” [NEA, 3/1]
• STEM Center Collaboratory Directors Lauren Birney and Jonathan Hill: “Instead of investing in our children’s future, the spending cuts would hurt students of all ages across the United States. The indiscriminate cuts would slash funding that helps some of our youngest children succeed, cut funding for teachers, and reduce grants and work-study programs. Among other education programs, the sequester would cut more than $400 million from Head Start, a program that provides at-risk preschoolers with education, health, nutrition, and family-support services. These cuts would force roughly 70,000 young children out of the Head Start program.” [The Hill, 2/28]
• Student Aid Alliance: “If Congress goes forward with the mandated cuts, students who get federal aid could lose up to $876 a year. We call this situation the ‘student fiscal cliff.’ ... If Congress doesn’t act to prevent a 6 percent cut to the student aid programs, more than 100,000 students could lose major portions of their financial aid, and millions more will see their aid reduced. Students have given again and again to help balance the budget. In fact in just the last few years, over $35 billion in student aid has been eliminated.” [Student Aid Alliance, 1/21]