Education $$ rises.

Despite attacks by Democrats and teacher unions who say schools are underfunded, President Bush's administration claims U.S. taxpayers spent $501.3 billion for public schools in 2003-04 school year.

State and local spending for K-12 education more than doubled since 1990, while federal taxpayers' share rose by more than a third to $41 billion or 8.2 percent of total spending in Bush's fiscal 2004 budget, according to a booklet the U.S. Department of Education is distributing. The No Child Left Behind act reauthorized the $25 billion Elementary and Secondary Education Act, whose Title I program this year provided $12.4 billion to districts to improve academic achievement in high-poverty schools.

But some officials claim national academic performance has not improved since 1965.

Expenditures for Elementary
and Secondary Education

            Dollars
          in Billions

1991-92     261.3
1993-94     287.5
1995-96     318.3
1997-98     361.4
1999-00     411.5
2001-02     462.7
2003-04     501.3

Source: National Center for Education Statistics