The President’s FY 2018 Budget Blueprint: Implications for Workforce Development and Education in New York 

Last week, the White House released its budget blueprint for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018. The blueprint proposed budget cuts for federal spending on many of the education and workforce programs currently serving young New Yorkers. Additionally, it proposes cuts for several other New York City services that severely impact the economic prospects of young people and low-income residents in our city.

Workforce
President Trump proposes a 21 percent decrease in funding to the Department of Labor (DOL).  According to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Democratic staff, this decrease in DOL funding would mean a 35 percent decrease in funding for job training and other employment services. A funding decrease of this magnitude would result in the loss of 140,000 employment training slots, as well as 5-7 million American workers and jobseekers losing access to supportive services, such as career counseling and case management. If these cuts extend to Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Grants to States (which support many of our state’s current programs for out-of-school young adults and sectoral programs), New York would have funding for 158,415 fewer WIOA participant slots than in FY 2017. Other workforce related proposals include:

• Eliminating the Commerce Department’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program, which saved small- and medium-sized manufacturers in New York State more than $48 million dollars and helped them hire or retain more than 3,500 workers in 2015. The president also proposes to eliminate the Economic Development Administration (EDA) program grants and discretionary funding for the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund both of which provide vital funding to create jobs, support small businesses, and expand economic opportunity in under-resourced communities in New York. Small businesses make up 99 percent of all businesses in New York State.
• Eliminating funding to the Corporation for National and Community Service, which funds the AmeriCorps program. AmeriCorps currently offers 80,000 young Americans, including more than 5,000 young New Yorkers, work experience and training through service opportunities in their communities.
• Eliminating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) training grants program. Currently in New York State, all workers on publicly funded construction sites of at least $250,000 to complete the OSHA 10 hour construction course.
• Closing a number of Job Corps centers, which provide free education and vocational training to young people ages 16 through 24. There is currently a Job Corps center in the South Bronx that also operates a Brooklyn satellite location. 

Education
The President is proposing a 13 percent cut to funding for the Department of Education’s budget. These cuts would include at least a $4.6 billion decrease in funding for student financial aid, as well as significant cuts in Federal Work-Study funding. It would also result in a total decrease of $140 million from New York City schools and after-school programs. Included in the president’s budget blueprint are proposals to:

• Remove $3.9 billion of Pell grant funding, which helps more than 7.7 million students afford college each year, including than 165,000 CUNY students. Moreover, his proposal would eliminate the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) program provides low-income students with need-based grants. In 2015-2016, more than 104,000 students in New York State received SEOG grants.
• Eliminate the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, which supports summer programs and before and after-school programs, and the Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program, or Title II of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which helps schools in low-income school districts hire and retain quality teachers. In New York, this would mean cuts of more than $87 million for before and after school and summer programs, and more than $184 million in cuts for teacher salaries.
• Reduce funding for the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) by 10 percent, and funding for Federal TRIO Programs by 33 percent. GEAR UP provides post-secondary preparation and scholarships to low-income and first-generation students and TRIO helps low-income students, first generation students, and students with disabilities progress from middle school to college.
• Decrease or eliminate federal funds for more than 20 other educational programs including Striving Readers, Teacher Quality Partnership, and International Education programs.

Community Block Grant ProgramsThe president proposes to eliminate the Community Development Block Grant program through the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Community Services Block Grant Program through the Department of Health and Human Services which contribute to (among other programs):

• Free breakfast in New York City public schools, which was recently expanded to serve all 339,000 students at all of the city’s public elementary schools;
• More than $5 million in job training through the NYC Department of Small Business Services;
• Summer youth employment funding through NYC Department of Youth and Community Development, which serves approximately 60,000 young New Yorkers each year; and
• Child care programs through the Administration for Children’s Services