February 2006
Bush Budget: More Sacrifices in Store for Education
For 2007, the Bush Administration is calling for substantial cuts in school spending on top of substantial cuts already approved for the current fiscal year. Again the White House seeks to eliminate numerous education programs (42 in all) and to "level fund" Title III formula grants for English language learners at $669 million, or $122 per eligible child.
President Bush is also calling for major cuts in health care for the poor and elderly, job training, environmental protection, and National Parks, combined with significant increases in spending for the military and border enforcement. And of course, no Republican budget would be complete without major tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.
According to the Committee for Education Funding, a coalition of education associations including NABE, the Bush budget would reduce federal spending for education by $2.1 billion, or 3.8 percent. This follows a $530 million, or 1 percent, cut voted by Congress in December. When rising enrollments are considered, especially for ELLs, the impact is even greater. Click here for full details.
The budget includes no additional funding for Title I, other than a $200 million "school improvement" program to help states restructure schools that fail to make "adequate yearly progress" targets under the No Child Left Behind Act.
Rep. George Miller, the senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, released an analysis of the Bush budget in which he accused the administration of underfunding NCLB by $55 billion over the past five years.
December 2005
Congress Shows It's No Santa Claus for Children in Public Schools
In its rush to leave Washington for the holidays, the Republican-controlled Congress dealt a $1 billion blow to K-12 education programs. Already being challenged as an "unfunded mandate," the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law will be cut to its lowest level in four years. The spending reductions came with virtually no debate and limited publicity, as news media focused on other Capitol Hill dramas, such as oil drilling in Alaska and cuts to entitlement programs for the poor and elderly.
Senator Edward Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, summed up the minority party's reaction: "The Christmas spirit was nowhere to be found tonight on the floor of the United States Senate, as Republicans rushed through unconscionable cuts to the programs that American families deserve."
Bowing to pressure from the House, where the extreme Right is in ascendancy, the Senate agreed to scrap a plan it had approved earlier to increase funding for English learner programs by 1 percent. Instead, NCLB Title III will be reduced by that amount, to $669 million. Another $7 billion will be stripped from programs for students with disabilities. Meanwhile, lawmakers voted to slash college loans by $12.7 billion, the largest reduction in history, and to freeze spending on Pell Grants for economically disadvantaged students.
Another assault on public education came in hurricane relief legislation. Under the guise of aiding students displaced by Katrina and Rita, conservatives pushed through a nationwide voucher program. Now, on a massive scale, federal funding will be available to "faith-based" schools, with no restrictions on religious proselytizing or discrimination.
To no one's surprise, President Bush is expected to sign these bills into law.
February 2005
Bush Seeks to Slash School Programs
The Bush Administration's FY2006 budget, unveiled on February 7, cuts overall federal spending on education by $530 million, eliminating 48 different programs, and – for the third year in a row – proposes no increase in spending for English language learners, the most rapidly growing sector of public school enrollment. Title III would be "level funded" at $676 million, or about $133 for each of the nation's 5.1 million ELLs. Even less than that amount reaches the classroom, according to a recent study by the Council of the Great City Schools.
Click here for complete details of the Bush budget.
Despite a modest boost for Title I, the Bush proposal falls far short of the promise of full funding for the No Child Left Behind Act – a deficit of $27 billion over the past four years, according to House Democrats. Simultaneously, the administration is asking Congress to expand mandatory high-stakes testing to high schools, another "unfunded mandate" for states and school districts.
Elementary and secondary school programs slated for elimination include dropout prevention, vocational education, gifted and talented education, special education personnel training, Education Technology State Grants, Even Start, Safe and Drug Free Schools, Parental Assistance Information Centers, Arts in Education for disabled students, Regional Education Laboratories, Foreign Language Assistance, Comprehensive School Reform, and Smaller Learning Communities.
In higher education, the casualties include several TRIO programs, LEAP, GEAR UP, and Perkins Loans. In addition, the budget imposes $3 billion in taxes on students receiving federal financial aid and breaks President Bush's pledge to substantially increase funding for Pell Grants. The net effect of these changes will be to increase the average cost of college attendance by $5,500, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The proposed program cuts – if enacted by Congress – will have a disproportionate impact on language-minority and other at-risk students.
Meanwhile, President Bush is sticking by his pledge to cut taxes for upper-income Americans. For example, his budget will lift a ceiling on tax deductions for the very rich, at a cost of more than $200 billion over the next 13 years. Ninety-seven percent of this tax break will go to families earning over $200,000 and 54 percent to those earning over $1 million per year, according to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
It's no wonder this budget is being called "class war from the top down."
Ironically, the Bush proposal does very little to control the federal deficit, which is now at a record level of $427 billion for FY2005, thanks to skyrocketing military expenditures and reckless tax cuts.
It's important to remember, however, that the Bush budget is not set in stone. Congressional resistance is expected among Republicans as well as Democrats. NABE members should contact their elected officials to make their voices heard.
For more information:
U.S. Department of Education
National Education Association's Legislative Action Center
House Budget Committee (Democratic Caucus)
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