Bowles and Simpson Go Education Snipping

Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co-chairs of President Obama’s fiscal commission, have released a first-draft proposal of their recommendations for bringing the federal deficit under control in the decades to come.  Here are the three (or four) recommendations that could have the greatest impact on K-12 and higher education (I’ve pulled these from a draft document published by reporters at Talking Points Memo):

1. Save $1.8 billion by eliminating the Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools. According the co-chairs, “…the results hoped for in creation of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools have not been demonstrated.”  They also note that children are more likely to experience violence outside of schools and that drug use is higher in other places.

2. Eliminate all earmarks. According to the co-chairs, “There have been significant strides in bringing the system of earmarking under control and into the sunlight. In FY2010, Congress approved more than 9,000 earmarks costing taxpayers at least $16 billion. Earmarks are not competitively bid and are not subject to accountability metrics.”

3. Eliminate administrative fees paid to schools for student aid programs. According to the co-chairs, colleges participating in campus-based aid programs, like Federal Work Study, as well as colleges whose students receive funding from the Federal Pell Grant Program, are already benefiting from federal aid, so they do not necessarily need funds to cover the administrative costs of these programs.

Although I didn’t see it in the co-chairs’ proposal, TPM is also reporting this recommendation: “Eliminate subsidized student loans, in which the government makes interest payments while the student is in school.”  If this federal cost-cutting measure is adopted, it would have the most significant negative impact on students, since tuition continues to rise at steep rates all across the nation.  (For example, just this week, Cal State University announced a 15.5% tuition hike for next year, on top of increases of more than 30% over the past year.)  This measure seems to directly contradict student loan reforms made by Congressional Democrats and the Obama Administration during 2009 and early 2010, but House Republicans might be willing to bite.

It’s important to emphasize that these are the recommendations made only by Bowles and Simpson, who will have to convince 14 of the Commission’s 18 members to approve a final proposal.  Congress and the President will also have most of the say in making any kind major budget cuts.  It appears that Social Security, Medicare, and Defense spending are the prime targets for these members.

What’s on the co-chairs’ chopping block is much less important than what’s not being considered for cuts.  After all, Bowles and Simpson write in their proposal that one of their key domestic priorities is to “protect key investments in infrastructure, education, and R&D.”  Although, anything can change at anytime in budget deals.

Tagged as: Alan Simpson, Earmarks, Erskine Bowles, Federal Education Spending, federal student aid, National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools