Dear members of the College in High School Alliance,
Yesterday, President Biden released his Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request for the US Department of Education and the other federal agencies that make up the federal budget. Each year, the President must send to Congress a budget that requests spending aligned to his priorities. Congress then considers the President’s request, and makes decision about what – and what not – to fund.
This year’s budget request includes an exciting proposal to significantly expand access to free dual enrollment. President Biden is proposing the creation of a $7 billion Classroom to Career program, which according to the budget “reduces costs for students by providing funds to states to expand access to at least 12 postsecondary credits of free, career-connected dual enrollment for all interested high school students.”
(This is all the detail we have on the proposal at this time, so the same questions you’re asking after reading that are probably the same ones I am!)
A $7 billion investment in expanding access to all interested students to free dual enrollment, that is intentionally aligned to careers, would be a huge step forward in addressing equity gaps in dual enrollment, expanding student access, and supplementing existing state funding to allow states to do more and go further in this work. Those of you who have asked me about my perspective on federal funding for this work know that I’ve always had a strong preference for state funding to supplement the existing funding and policy systems in each state.
The budget also proposes $57 million in funding for the Career-Connected High Schools grant program, which provides consortia of school districts and colleges funds to support activities to connect high school students with college and career, including through dual enrollment. That program, which was created in FY23 through a similar process (the President requested it in his budget and Congress funded it), recently awarded $25 million in grants.
It is important to caveat that while this is an exciting proposal that has the potential to make a hugely positive impact to our collective work to expand access and success to dual enrollment, it is highly unlikely a proposal of this size and magnitude is adopted in FY25. Given the current funding caps at the federal level, an investment of this magnitude is unrealistic in the short term.
However, this is the first time a President has explicitly endorsed a big investment specifically in dual enrollment. Through our collective advocacy, through making the case for this work and the importance of federal investments, and through sustained effort I believe that — when the time is right — we can leverage the foundation created by this proposal to secure a significant federal investment in dual enrollment.
So while you shouldn’t be doing any planning around the expectation of the existence of federal funding any time soon, what you should be doing is taking this an important sign that our messaging up to the federal level is working, that our voices are being heard, and that we’re better positioned with President Biden’s proposal to get the federal funding we need to close equity gaps in this work than we are without it.
I encourage you to let your representatives in Congress know that you support this proposal.
Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions! |
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