Congress approves funding increases for key education
02/08 -- Thanks to strong advocacy by local school board members, Congress took some positive steps at the end of 2007 that could set the stage for even more favorable action this year.
After President Bush vetoed an education funding bill for fiscal year 2008 in November -- following three years of relatively flat funding -- Congress approved an omnibus spending bill in December that includes significant increases for K-12 programs. The president has indicated he will sign it.
The bill provides $59.4 billion for the Department of Education for 2008, which is $2 billion above this year’s level. President Bush had proposed a $1.2 billion cut.
The measure includes a $1.2 billion increase for Title I and a $491 million increase for Title I school improvement grants, which districts can use to implement intervention strategies for schools that have been subjected to sanctions under No Child Left Behind.
The bill also includes a modest increase of $259 million for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The President had proposed a $291 million cut in IDEA. Congress retained funding for the career and technical education programs at the 2007 level of $1.2 billion, rejecting the president’s proposed $575 million cut.
“It’s a definite win,” said Deborah Rigsby, NSBA’s director of federal legislation. “It’s clearly not what is needed, but it’s much better than where we were a couple of months ago and puts us in a much better position going forward into fiscal year 2009. With this appropriations bill, Congress has re-established its commitment to reinvest in K-12 programs.”
That reinvestment has taken on greater urgency, now that most states are reporting slower revenue growth, due in part to the downturn in the housing and finance sectors, Rigsby noted.
There’s already an effort under way in Congress to raise funding for IDEA for fiscal 2009. Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Michael Ferguson (R-N.J.), and Darlene Hooley (D-Ore.) sent a letter to President Bush asking him to support “a significant increase” for Part B state grants under IDEA. The letter says “schools, states, and families have waited far too long for the federal government to honor its promise to students with disabilities.”
Among the wide range of education issues on the congressional agenda this year, the reauthorization of NCLB is expected to take center stage.
NSBA’s bill to fix the fundamental flaws in NCLB now has 19 co-sponsors, and NSBA and local school board members will urge members of Congress to address NCLB now -- or risk the possibility that changes won’t be made until after a new president takes office in 2009.
John Pennycuff, president of the Winton Woods school district in Ohio, presented this message in an op-ed piece published in the Cincinnati EnquirerDec. 11. “Waiting for a new administration and Congress to act would result in the nation’s schools suffering under a broken system for another three school years,” he wrote.
NCLB’s “one-size-fits-all approach rigidly tied to high-stakes testing is inadequate and does not provide a true picture of performance,” Pennycuff continued. Unless the law is fixed now, more schools will be unfairly subjected to severe sanctions, “creating a vicious cycle that threatens to undermine public support for our schools.”
President Bush signed into law the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 on Dec. 29. The measure extends the State Children’s Health Insurance Program through March 31, 2009, but doesn’t expand it.
The President had vetoed two bills passed by Congress that would have expanded the $5 billion program and extended coverage to about 10 million children.
NSBA had been concerned about that bill because of the importance of improving children’s access to health care and also because of a provision that imposed a six-month moratorium on federal Medicaid regulations.
Those rules -- which would eliminate federal reimbursements to schools for administration and transportation services provided to low-income students with disabilities -- would have a devastating effect on school district budgets.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published final rules Dec. 21, but they won’t take effect until the end of the moratorium, which gives Congress more time to develop a long-lasting solution.
Congress also is expected to craft new legislation in 2008 to expand the SCHIP program.
NSBA had been concerned that Congress would impose a new unfunded mandate requiring strict nutrition standards for all foods and beverages sold in schools, including vending machines and concession stands -- but that didn’t happen.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) had proposed an amendment to the farm bill that would have set tough new standards on school nutrition standards. But all controversial amendments, including that one, were withdrawn from the farm bill to improve its chances of passage.
NSBA opposed the amendment because it believes local school boards -- not the federal government -- should make decisions about what kinds of food should be available in schools.
The issue of nutrition standards is not likely to resurface until 2009, when Congress will consider the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act.
The new Congress appears to have a growing interest in creating new programs to support school construction and renovation, which NSBA believes is badly needed.
Several bills have been introduced, including the America’s Better Classrooms Act (H.R.2470), sponsored by House Ways and Means Committee Chair Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.), and more than 200 others. That measure would support federal tax credits to finance school modernization and construction and would leverage about $25 billion in school bonds.
Sen. John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) has introduced a similar bill (S.912).
| Reproduced with permission from School Board News. Copyright © 2008, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789. |