Bush's budget: taking from Peter to pay Paul?

This time of year, education lobbyists work hardest for their paychecks, and President Bush's proposed $56 billion education budget for fiscal year 2006 will mean plenty of overtime as advocates work toward restoring $4.3 billion in programs proposed for elimination.

The proposed budget, down .9 percent or $530 million from last year's $56.6 billion budget, is the first overall reduction in education spending in more than 10 years.

"We're disappointed that 48 of the 150 programs that were zeroed out in the president's budget were education programs," says Denise Cardinal, spokeswoman for the National Education Association. "We're working with members of Congress to restore funding to some of these, which we consider to be a fairly likely scenario given recent history."

The biggest news for educators in the president's budget is the proposed High School Initiative. It would extend many of the provisions of No Child Left Behind into high school, . supported by $1.5 million in redirected funding. But the high school initiative is paired with the proposed elimination of $1.3 billion in state grants for vocational education. (The new high school money could be used to maintain support for vocational education at the state's discretion.)

This jockeying between Peter and Paul is a result of the politics of the budget deficit.

Other large ticket items that would be eliminated include Safe and Drug Free Schools initiative, Education Technology State Grants, and Upward Bound, a college prep program. (For the full list see www. ed.gov) In many ways the program cuts may be a political statement as 33 of the same programs were targeted for elimination last year but still received funding from Congress, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education, a Washington-based non-profit.

"The problem here is that the cuts proposed, in some cases, are congressional priorities," says Mary Kusler, senior legislative specialist with the American Association of School Administrators. "But if [Congress] starts putting back some of those eliminated programs, without adding more money for education, we're just fighting among ourselves" to see which area has to take cuts, she says.

Though many have lauded the president's proposed new focus on high school achievement, Washington insiders are calling it 'dead on arrival' because it would be funded through the elimination of other programs. (See "High School Reform" on page 35) The initiative would have two major components: $1.24 billion for "high school intervention," aimed at increasing achievement and reducing racial and economic performance gaps; and $250 million to help states create annual assessments in language arts and math in two additional grades in high school by 2009-10. (NCLB already requires one assessment in grades 10-12.)

Title I and IDEA would be net beneficiaries under the president's budget; Title I would receive an additional $600 million, and IDEA an additional $510 million. Also proposed is the creation of a $500 million teacher incentive fund, a state grant program to reward effective teachers and offer incentives for highly qualified teachers to teach in high-poverty schools.

Elementary and Secondary Ed Programs
larger than $200 million proposed for
elimination in FY2006 (in millions)

PROGRAM NAME                         '05 BUDGET ALLOCATION

Comprehensive School Reform                         $205.3

Education Technology
State Grants                                        $496.0

Even Start                                          $225.1

Gaining Early Awareness
And Readiness for
Undergraduate Programs                              $306.5

Safe and Drug-free Schools
And Communities State Grants                        $437.4

TRIO Upward Bound                                   $312.6

Vocational Education
State Grants                                      $1,194.3

Elementary and Secondary Ed Programs
Proposed for Increases (in millions)

                                  TOTAL       AMT. OF
                                 PROPOSED     INCREASE

High School Initiative *          $1,500       $1,500
Includes
  H.S. Assessments                  $250         $250
  Striving Readers                  $200         $175
  Secondary Ed
  Mathematics Initiative            $120         $120
  Advanced Placement                 $52          $22
IDEA                              $1,100         $508
Title I                          $13,300         $603
Teacher Incentive Fund *            $500         $500
Choice Incentive Fund *              $50          $50
Adjunct Teacher Corp.                $40          $40
Safe and Drug Free
Schools-National Programs           $317          $82

* new program

Rebecca Sausner

www.ed.gov