Education Fiscal Policy in the Reagan Administration

Abstract

The Reagan administration’s “New Federalism” agenda focused on redirecting national priorities and decentralizing domestic programs through budgetary policy. This research analyzes the consequences of national policy shifts occurring over the decade of the 1980s for public education. Utilizing a multimethod research design, it addresses four fundamental questions: (a) What have been the federal investments in education during the Reagan years? (b) How has the overall Department of Education (ED) budget fared over this time? (c) How have individual programs in ED been affected? (d) In sum, what fiscal changes have occurred in education during the Reagan presidency and to what extent have devolution and diminution in federal education policy been influenced by the Administration’s policies? The author finds significant shifts have occurred in federal education policy and finance during the 1980s. Tax reductions, deficit financing, dwindling productivity, and an uncertain economic outlook indirectly accomplished what could not be otherwise achieved, and set the basis for a new era in national education policy and finance well beyond the Reagan years.