Educators find little to like in Bush budget.

President George W. Bush says increased funding for education is among the highlights of his proposed budget for fiscal year 2005. But educators aren't buying it.

Major organizations of teachers and principals point to elimination of dollars for key programs such as dropout prevention, gifted and talented children, guidance counselors in elementary schools, and increased parental involvement in poor communities.

Education Secretary Rod Paige, presenting Bush's $57.3 billion education proposal to the House of Representatives Budget Committee in February, said it provides the largest dollar increase of any domestic agency, representing a 3 percent increase over the current year's spending and a nearly 36 percent gain for education programs since Bush took office.

Among other things, Paige cited an additional $1 billion for Title 1 grants to help the neediest local schools and a $1 billion boost for special education grants to states.

But educators point to what the budget doesn't include. National Education Association President Reg Weaver says the "paltry" 1.8 percent increase Bush proposes for No Child Left Behind "in no way meets the federal government's obligation to fund the new law." Rather, Weaver contends, it "falls short of promised levels of trading by more than $9 billion for the coming year."

Weaver adds that while the budget eliminates funds for 38 programs, "incredibly, the President wants $50 million for a national experiment with school vouchers, which take away much needed resources from public schools."

Vincent L. Ferrandino, executive director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, says Bush's budget represents "a broken promise to principals and school systems everywhere." He points to the proposal to ax funding for School Leadership which supports recruitment and professional development of school principals.

The National Association of Secondary School principals says in a statement that Bush's proposal to aid middle and high school students in reading and math and expand Advanced Placement programs in low-income schools "is the kind of support long overdue" from the federal government. "Unfortunately," NASSP adds, "the president continues to play the shell game" by wiping out other vital programs. "We see one step forward with another step back," NASSP declares.

"There is a huge gap between the election year rhetoric about supporting education and the reality reflected in this budget," comments Alfie Kohn, an author and education expert. Bush's proposal favors programs reflecting his "ideological agenda," Kohn says.

Although Congress would like to complete work on the total budget and adjourn before the November elections, that is no certainty.

In the 2005 proposed
national budget,
the Department of Education
would receive $57.3 billion
out of a total $818.4 billion,
or 7 percent.

2005 Proposed Budget Breakdown
$57 Billion

No child Left Behind      24.7
Postsecondary Education   17.0
Special Education         12.1
Other K-12                1.7
Other programs            1.5

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Education Budget 2000-05
(In billions)

2000   35.6
2001   42.2
2002   49.9
2003   53.1
2004   55.7
2005   57.3

Source: U.S. Dept. of Ed.

Note: Table made from line graph.

www.ed.gov.www.nea.org, www.naesp.org, www.nassp.org