Cristin Dorgelo, President and CEO of the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), released the following statement regarding the Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget.
Although we await the eventual release of details, the broad outlines of President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget proposal made public today are acutely troubling for America’s scientific enterprise and innovation engine generally, and its science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education efforts specifically. ASTC urges the U.S. Congress to once again soundly reject Administration proposals to completely cut or profoundly cripple STEM education—and instead provide robust research, STEM-education, and science-engagement funding in a new budget deal that raises the spending caps, supports American innovation through critical investments in science, and commits additional resources to advancing science education and public engagement in science.
This is a terrible time to slash or shrink the programs that invest in our future leaders and changemakers. At a time when we need all hands on deck in solving global challenges and building the future, we do not believe it is wise strategy to eliminate or hobble the many effective programs that advance science education and foster a diverse STEM workforce, including those that support the crucial work of informal science learning institutions such as science centers and museums to engage communities across every state in educational, inspiring STEM experiences. Instead, we must invest in expanding the STEM workforce and providing all Americans with access to high-quality science learning, as called for in the Administration’s own Federal 5-Year Strategic Plan for STEM Education. We have to engage more students in creativity, innovation, invention, and other 21st-century skills. We need to equip the citizens of today and tomorrow with the tools they need to thrive in an era of rapid scientific and technological advances.
—Cristin Dorgelo, President and CEO, ASTC
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