As Congress returns to Washington, STEM advocates seek adequate funding

As the summer ends, members of Congress, their staff, and advocates for many causes are getting ready for the next steps in the FY 2025 budget and appropriations process. When Congress adjourned for its annual August recess, the House had passed five of the twelve annual spending bills, while the Senate Appropriations Committee had approved eleven of the twelve bills. (See the status of the annual spending bills.)

Looking to September, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is developing a plan for funding the federal government through the end of the current fiscal year, which ends on September 30, while Congress works to complete the FY 2025 spending process. Over Labor Day weekend, it was reported that the Speaker is considering a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the federal government through March 2025 to streamline negotiations during the post-election Lame Duck session. Of course, these plans will evolve as his Republican, Democratic, and Senate colleagues weigh in.

STEM education advocates are watching the FY 2025 process closely. Spending caps mean limited options for appropriators, and, as was the case in FY 2024, the House and Senate have different approaches to funding STEM education. The House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Commerce, Justice, and Science bills are quite different from the Senate bipartisan spending plans.

The House has proposed significant cuts to a number of programs important to STEM educators at the Department of Education. They have, however, requested a modest $10 million increase for the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grant program (Title IV, Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act), which local districts use to support STEM education programs. The Senate bill proposes the same modest increase for this program. Regarding investments in career and technical education, which often focus on STEM fields, the House bill proposes a $10 million increase, while the Senate would increase funding by $35 million to $1.475 billion.

At the National Science Foundation, the House proposal would increase funding for the agency by 1.9% to $9.259 billion, but would cut the STEM Education Directorate by almost 15%, to $1 billion. The Senate bipartisan proposal would increase funding for the agency by 5.1% to $9.55 billion and increase the STEM Education Directorate’s funding by 4.5% to $1.225 billion. The Senate bill also provides $70 million for the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program and “encourages the Directorate for STEM Education to continue its agency-wide efforts to support informal STEM education programs and program providers, including for professional development.”

NASA would fare differently under the two plans as well. The House plan would increase funding for the agency by 1.2%, but would cut STEM engagement by almost 38%. Meanwhile, the Senate bill proposes increasing the NASA budget by 2.2%, but would cut $1 million from STEM engagement activities.

STEM education programs can be found at nearly every federal agency. While Congressional leadership will be quite busy negotiating spending bills with election season in full throttle, advocates will need to make the case for the importance of funding STEM education. To help in your efforts, you can use the Afterschool Alliance’s election toolkit for support on how to make afterschool STEM a campaign issue. You can also use these talking points from the Afterschool STEM Hub on crafting your messaging around STEM. Please join us as we continue to advocate for increased funding for STEM education and quality afterschool STEM!