Advocacy

It’s Time For Education Funding!

Support for education has failed to keep pace with inflation or growing need over many years. Congress just cut education funding for fiscal year 2024, and even the President’s requested increase for next year leaves education funding more than $13 billion below the 2011 level in inflation-adjusted terms. Now Congress is turning to next year’s funding bills, deciding first on total funding, then the levels for each government funding bill, and then amounts for individual programs. Tight constraints on spending will mean tough spending choices.

Now is the time to urge Congress to invest in education! Our message is simple: education needs have grown, not shrunk, but the federal investment has fallen far behind inflation over the last 13 years. It’s #Time4EdFunding

• The majority of the American public opposes cut for education and child care, and supports more funding (link: Navigator poll, November 2023)
• Investing in education provides a great return– those with more education earn higher wages and lower unemployment (link: Department of Labor’s “Education Pays” chart), boosting the economy by paying more taxes; those with more education are more involved in their communities and have better health outcomes; the nation needs a well-educated workforce to be globally competitive. You can see more data on the topic below the student photos at cef.org.

How you can help:

• Tell your Representative and two Senators to support increased education funding.
• Tell Congress why investments in education matter to you, your community, or the economy as a whole. You can also emphasize the public support for more education funding and the great return on investment from education funding.
• It’s easy to give a quick call or send a short email to your Members of Congress. You can find their names and contact information at https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members.
• You can tag them in a social media post using CEF’s list of congressional Twitter/X, Instagram, and Facebook address (tag CEF @edfunding, too, so we can amplify your message).

Sample message:

My name is [name, I’m from [CITY, STATE], and I am a [PARENT, STUDENT, TEACHER, CHILD CARE PROVIDER, COUNSELOR, LIBRARIAN, ADMINISTRATOR, ETC.]. Federal education funding [OR INSERT SPECIFIC PROGRAM] helps me [INSERT HOW] and without it I [INSERT THE CONSEQUENCES OF LOWER THAN NEEDED FUNDING]. I urge Congress to invest in teaching and learning by increasing education funding. I am not alone – recent polling shows a majority of the public supports more funding public education and child care, and opposes cuts to these vital services. Education pays, in so many ways.

Now is the time to invest in education after a decade of underfunding. This year it’s #Time4EdFunding