Bush budget request disappoints school leaders

In short, the budget would “make a mockery of the words ‘No Child Left Behind,’” says NSBA President Joan E. Schmidt.

The President’s $2.77 trillion budget request, announced Feb. 6, would cut overall federal spending by $182 billion over a five-year period, with the Education Department taking one of the largest hits -- a 6.4 percent reduction from current-year funding levels.

For Title I grants for local school districts, the President is proposing just $12.7 billion for 2007, the same amount appropriated for fiscal year 2006.

If this proposal is adopted, “the program will have been increased by about 8 percent over four budget cycles -- hardly a priority,” Schmidt says. “This comes at a time when Title I enrollments, comprising the most educationally disadvantaged students, are rising, along with the cost of providing services to these students,” including costly sanctions mandated by NCLB when schools fail to meet their adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals.

When NCLB was enacted in 2002, the President and Con­gress agreed to provide $25 billion for Title I grants in FY 2007.

The President is proposing a $100 million increase in special education grants to states, from $10.6 billion in 2006. The $10.7 billion proposed for 2007 is more than $14 billion short of full funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), in which Congress promised to pay 40 percent of per-student special education costs.

When Congress reauthorized IDEA in 2004, it readjusted funding levels for IDEA in an effort to meet the federal government’s 30-year commitment to fully fund the 40 percent share, promising $16.9 billion for FY 2007.

According to Schmidt, the failure to fully fund Title I and IDEA “basically amounts to a $25 billion education tax on local communities that must be paid by increasing local property taxes or by drawing funds away from other vital components of the school program.”

Among the programs the President wants to eliminate are the $272 million education technology grants program, which helps provide access to online courses not otherwise available in urban and rural schools and professional development for teachers.

Other programs slated for termination are the:

• $1.3 billion vocational education state grant program;

• $346.5 Safe and Drug-Free Schools state grants;

• $93.5 Smaller Learning Communities program, which supports the creation of smaller high schools;

• $4.8 million dropout prevention program;

• $7.9 million Comprehensive School Reform program;

• $303 million GEAR-UP program, which helps disadvantaged students prepare for higher education;

• $40 million parent information and resource centers;

• $34.6 million elementary school counseling program; and

• $60 million teacher quality enhancement program.

“While the President’s budget grinds down critical support to public education, it simultaneously proposes a new $100 million voucher program,” Schmidt notes.

Under the President’s budget, funding under this program could be either used for “intense after-school tutoring” -- supplemental services under NCLB -- at the rate of $3,000 per student or vouchers worth $4,000 per student to help pay the tuition, fees, and other costs at private schools, including religious schools.

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings says the program is designed for “students who have been trapped in failing schools.” School districts, states, and nonprofit private organizations could apply for these competitive grants.

NSBA has long opposed diverting federal assistance to private schools, because such schools are not accountable to the public. Schmidt says “this proposal flies in the face of the Administration’s own standard that its education policies will be based on scientific evidence of success and that there will be accountability for performance.”

The President’s budget calls for $200 million in Title I funds to be used for schools in “restructuring” status under NCLB. The law requires a school that has failed to meet its AYP goals for six years in a row to be restructured, which means the school could be taken over by a private education management company or a state education department, become a charter school, have its staff replaced, or be subject to other major reforms.

“NCLB is maturing and without consequences and improvements in schools, those accountability features are hollow,” Spellings says. “That’s why it’s important we make investments in school restructuring.”

As part of the President’s initiative to improve the nation’s global competitiveness, the budget proposes $380 million in new federal money to improve math, science, and technology education in K12 public schools.

The initiative calls for 70,000 high school teachers to be trained to teach Advanced Placement math and science courses in high school.

It also calls for 30,000 math and science professionals to be trained to teach high school courses and become part of an “adjunct teacher corps.”

Spellings says, “We have people who are retiring early with strong expertise in many, many fields who would love to make a contribution in the public schools.” She suggests that the Teach for America and Troops for Teachers programs could be models for this new teacher corps.

And the President proposes efforts to make elementary and middle school math and high school courses more rigorous so students entering high school will be ready for AP and other advanced courses. This Math Now initiative would include competitive grants to expand the use of proven practices in math instruction, based on the recommendations of a proposed National Mathematics Panel.

The budget proposals also include efforts to increase the number of Americans who understand “critical foreign languages, such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean,” and includes $24 million to create incentives for teaching these languages in K-12 schools.