Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 Will Undermine Education

America’s school leaders have come out strong against the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 (H.R. 2811), saying the legislation—recently approved by the U.S. House of Representatives—is short-sighted and will significantly undermine public education. 

In a  motioned passed by the American Federation of School Administrators (AFSA) General Executive Board urged the U.S. Senate and the president to reject the legislation in its entirety.

“The Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 would cap overall federal funding for FY 2024 at FY 2022 levels, leading to deep cuts in education spending, severe reductions in services for all students, potential layoffs of educators and the curtailment of professional development programs for educators,” said AFSA President Dr. Leonard P. Pugliese. “This legislation would be financially ruinous and damaging to public education.”

AFSA is concerned that the legislation, which would limit total federal funding increases to 1% for each of the next nine years, fails to keep pace with the current 5% annual inflation estimate, and is well short of the president’s proposed 13.6% increase in the FY 2024 U.S. Department of Education budget.

“America’s public schools continue to grapple with a host of significant issues as they emerge from the pandemic, including burgeoning student and educator mental health challenges, widespread achievement gaps in core academic areas, persistent educator shortages and repeated school violence incidents, “said Pugliese. “Cutting the federal government’s critical financial support to address these and other education issues through annual appropriations will set our nation back even further.”

AFSA’s motion represents the views of school principals, assistant principals and school district central office managers and supervisors. It encourages Congress to continue to make the strong investments in public education necessary to improve student and educator mental health, close achievement gaps, attract educators to the profession and put a stop to school violence incidents.