President Donald Trump has taken some early steps to fulfill his promise to "ensure funding for historic black colleges and universities," but it remains to be seen how much funding Congress ultimately provides.
The clearest step came on Feb. 28, 2017, when Trump welcomed leaders of historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, to the Oval Office for the signing of an executive order to launch a White House initiative "to promote excellence and innovation at historically black colleges and universities."
According to the executive order, the initiative is tasked with working with "agencies, private-sector employers, educational associations, philanthropic organizations, and other partners to increase the capacity of HBCUs to provide the highest-quality education to an increasing number of students."
It also created a presidentially appointed advisory board to advise the president "on all matters pertaining to strengthening the educational capacity of HBCUs."
The executive order provides rhetorical support and a direct line to the White House. Potentially the bigger step, however, came with the release of the president's fiscal 2018 budget proposal.
Overall for the Education Department, the White House proposed $59 billion in discretionary funding -- a $9 billion, or 13 percent, cut.
However, the budget proposal maintains current spending levels of $492 million for HBCUs and other institutions of higher education that serve minorities.
In addition, the Pell Grant program -- the financial-aid program that plays a key role in supporting the education of many students at HBCUs -- would also keep constant funding under the president's budget.
Given the substantial overall budgetary cut to the department, it's notable that these two budget lines were spared from reductions.
A final rating will need to wait until Congress provides actual funding bills. For now, we rate this promise In the Works.