President Obama’s fiscal year 2013 budget allocates $73 million for NASA’s education programs generated from accumulated grants, subsidies and contributions, Fierce Government reports.
That amount is nearly 41 percent less than the $122 million subsidy allotted for the 2012 budget.
NASA’s entire education budget line amounts to the total of $100 million in appropriated funds, a nearly 28 percent decrease from 2012.
Budget restrictions within this area could greatly affect projects that promote careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, Fierce Government reported.
John Holdren, director of NASA’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, told a Senate Commerce subcommittee March 6 that the Education Department and the National Science Foundation will lead cross-government STEM efforts.
Holdren said those efforts will subsidize gaps left in NASA’s budget, Fierce Government reported.
Despite the decline in STEM funding, NASA’s research-and-development received an increase in 2013.
R&D was allocated a total of $140.8 billion and non-defense R&D will receive a 5 percent increase, according to Fierce Government.
Advanced manufacturing R&D will receive a 19 percent increase from 2012.
