On February 2, the Department of Education announced that it was inviting applications for new awards under the Teaching American History (TAH) Grant Program for fiscal year (FY) 2011. However, the notice in the Federal Register makes clear that the Administration’s FY 2011 budget request did not include funding for the TAH program. It states, “We are inviting applications for the TAH program to allow enough time to complete the grant process before the end of the current fiscal year, if Congress appropriates funds for this program.”
The application deadlines are as follows:
- Applications Available: February 2, 2011.
- Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply: March 4, 2011.
- Dates of Pre-Application Meetings: Pre-application meetings for prospective applicants will be held on March 11, 2011.
- Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 4, 2011.
- Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: June 2, 2011.
There will be two pre-application meetings for prospective applicants:
(1) March 11, 2011, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the LBJ Auditorium at the U.S. Department of Education Headquarters, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20202;
(2) March 11, 2011 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the same location.
For Further Information Contact: Mia Howerton, Margarita Melendez, or Adam Bookman, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 4C123, Washington, DC 20202-5960. Telephone: (202) 205-0147 or by e-mail: teachingamericanhistory@ed.gov. If you use a TDD, call the FRS, toll-free, at 1-800-877-8339.
Background
President Obama’s FY 2011 budget request to Congress for the Department of Education proposed consolidating 38 existing K–12 education programs into 11 new programs. Under the administration’s budget request, grants for history education would now be part of a new program called “Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well-Rounded Education.” Teaching American History Grants would be consolidated into this new program and would no longer exist as a free-standing budget line item.
The administration proposed $265 million in funding in fiscal year 2011 for the new initiative. Although the fiscal 2011 budget request proposed a $38.9 million increase in funding to support teaching and learning in arts, history, civics, foreign languages, geography, and economics, the administration proposes to combine eight subject-specific grant programs into a single competitive grant program. Unfortunately, under the proposed competitive grant program the various subjects would be pitted against each other for scarce resources.
In July, the National Coalition for History (NCH) and ten other NCH members joined forces with over 20 educational organizations representing other K-12 academic disciplines in issuing a statement to Congress and the Administration calling for the continued robust funding of core academic subjects including history. This includes maintenance of discrete funding for each discipline, including Teaching American History grants.
Most observers
expect major cuts in federal discretionary non-national security programs in the next Continuing Resolution that will fund the federal government for the remainder of the current fiscal year. This is causing uncertainty within the Department of Education as to the availability of FY 2011 funding for TAH.
