Short-Term Spending Bill Kills Several Education Programs, Including LEAP

President Obama has signed into law a short-term spending bill that averts a government shutdown on Friday but eliminates several education programs. The measure, which would cut overall spending by $4-billion below last year’s levels over the next two weeks, spared the Pell Grant program but did away with the $64-million Leveraging Education Assistance Partnership, or LEAP, program, which bolstered states’ need-based aid programs. The measure also eliminates programs benefiting Alaska Native- and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions and tribally controlled postsecondary vocational institutions. Though the bill finances the government only through mid-March, the cuts will be final unless Congress reverses them in a subsequent spending measure.