The federal budget is being used to advance the “revenue neutrality” proposal from the Obama administration.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has long advocated that schools provide more education resources and pay more for teacher salaries.
The department proposed $2.5 billion in funding for teachers, up from $1.9 billion, with $800 million for the National Governors Association and $300 million for states and cities.
Betsy DeVos wants to cut federal education funding by $1 trillion over the next decade.
In 2017, the Education Department released its first version of its revenue neutrality proposal.
This budget proposal includes a $1 billion tax cut for higher education.
But DeVos also proposed $500 million for Pell Grants, the federal government-funded loans that help lower-income students afford college.
Teachers union President John J. Romero and other teachers have long criticized the proposal, arguing that teachers would be hit the hardest by it.
We believe that this proposal will make it harder for our members to teach, and more difficult for our families to pay for our children’s education,” Romero said in a statement.
Many schools have already faced cuts under DeVos, and some have closed or are struggling to find qualified teachers.
A spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers told Axios that it “would be naive to believe that it can’t pass this budget.”