Penn Hill Group Senior Advisor Michele McLaughlin was quoted in an February 6 Education Week article, “Major Education Research Programs May Be Combined in Budget, Advocates Say”, McLaughlin commented on the Administration’s budget possibility to combine three significant research programs—the State Longitudinal Data System grants, the Regional Educational Laboratories, and the Comprehensive Centers:

“Money for all three programs—nearly $140 million all told—would instead be rolled out to states through formula grants, said Michele McLaughlin, a senior adviser at Penn Hill Group, a government-relations organization. McLaughlin is also the president of the Knowledge Alliance, a lobbying coalition for the education research community, who learned of the proposal ahead of the budget’s release.”

McLaughlin stated that:

“This proposal is nonsensical and does not reflect congressional intent, said McLaughlin. She noted that the Education Sciences Reform Act, or ESRA, which was last renewed in 2002, keeps all three programs separate. So does a bipartisan bill to reauthorize ESRA—the Strengthening Education Through Research Act—which passed the House in 2014 and the Senate in 2015 but still hasn’t made it over the finish line.  The budget change the Trump administration intends to propose would require a legislative change, she said. We are puzzled that the administration continues to pursue this wrongheaded proposal,  she noted.”