NASA FY 2014 Budget Information
2014 Federal Research & Development Budget Briefing (webcast)
“Officials from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and other Federal departments and agencies with core science missions will discuss President Obama’s FY 2014 R&D Budget.”
NASA Administrator Discusses 2014 Fiscal Year Budget Proposal (webcast)
“NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will brief reporters about the agency’s fiscal year 2014 budget proposal at 3 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 10, during a media teleconference. NASA Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Robinson will join the administrator.”
NASA Administrator Bolden’s Statement on the NASA FY 2014 Budget Request
“Today, we unveil President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget request for NASA — a $17.7 billion investment in our nation’s future. Our budget ensures the United States will remain the world’s leader in space exploration and scientific discovery for years to come, while making critical advances in aerospace and aeronautics to benefit the American people.”
Keith’s note: The White House loves to talk about education. So … what do they do at NASA? They cut NASA education from $136.9 million in FY 2013 to $94.2 million in FY 2014. This is how they explain it: “In support of the Administration’s FY 2014 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education plan, the Agency’s education efforts will be fundamentally restructured into a consolidated education program funded through the Office of Education.” This is not at all surprising given that OMB actually wants to move all of NASA’s education activities to the Department of Education (they did not get their way on that this year). No explanation is offered as to what “restructured” means other than providing less money.
NASA FY 2014 Budget information
Thanks Keith for taking note of the education changes. I too would like to know more about this “consolidation”. It all sounds good in theory, but if these programs are NASA-oriented, will DoEd be able to manage them effectively? As an example, OMB also wants to move the DoD STARBASE educational program under NSF. The STARBASE folks are apoplectic, as that program is intimately tied to the military bases which house it and the base personnel who work with it. They are concerned that they will lose access to base facilities, etc, if the program is not actually under the management of the DoD. So what will happen to these “NASA Education” programs if they are no longer managed by NASA? Please keep us informed.
There’s the challenge: should a NASA Education program be run by Education people because it’s an education activity, or by NASA people because it’s a NASA topic?
Maybe the government will become increasingly matrixed, as many NASA project organizations are, drawing expertise from multiple communities of excellence. A NASA education program could then be funded and administered by DoE(du) (by experts in education, who have insight into the entire government’s portfolio of science education projects), but employ the necessary subject matter experts from NASA (and other agencies as needed), who have the required knowledge and access to facilities and equipment.
From what I have heard, STEM education is being redivided between a number of federal organizations, including the Smithsonian. Not sure on the details, but it looks like their budget request has increased.
Yo Lori..umm…most of us didn’t take the jobs we have for “fear, greed, or glory”…
The truth is, that many….almost all who work in NASA education, are not very good at their jobs. A bunch of scientists who couldn’t hack doing the science, so decided “to focus on education,” and a bunch of wives of scientists who needed a job. NASA seems all bright and shiny, but once you get to know the inside of the whole thing, you start to wonder how they ever got a rocket off the ground. And NASA ed…..soooooo wasteful. They’ve been living with luxurious budgets that do little but pay their own salaries. It’s been really bad, and I hope this goes some way to cleaning house.