Obama transition team weighing funding increase for education
01/09—When Barack Obama was campaigning for the presidency, he made some major promises about increasing the federal investment in education, including $18 billion in new money for K-12 education, a $10 billion investment in prekindergarten, and full funding for special education.
But that was before the crisis on Wall Street, which necessitated a federal infusion of billions of dollars in an attempt to prop up ailing financial markets.
Now with the federal deficit at record levels, there is some concern that some of the president-elect’s promises of new initiatives and new funding for existing programs might be put on hold. The need to focus on the nation’s economic troubles also means education could be pushed further down on the new administration’s list of priorities.
“There are two ways the new president could look at this situation,” says NSBA Associate Executive Director Michael A. Resnick. “He could look at the rising federal deficit as a reason to lower expectations or he could view spending on education as a relatively small but important part of the federal budget that is essential for ensuring that future generations will be equipped to handle the problems they will inherit.”
Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond, who heads Obama’s transition team on education policy, apparently agrees with the latter argument. At a meeting with education leaders in November, she said adding $30 billion in new money for education would be a relatively minor part of the federal budget, and it’s a wise investment, considering dropouts cost the country that amount each year.
In light of the nation’s economic crisis -- lack of liquidity in the bond market and reduced tax revenues for school districts -- NSBA has urged the transition team to support an immediate economic stimulus package with grants to districts for infrastructure repairs and modernization.
NSBA also proposes the establishment of a reserve to guarantee outstanding education bonds and other proposals aimed at easing the credit crunch for school facility projects.
One of the key education issues facing the next president is what to do about reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act. During the campaign, Obama talked about the need to raise student achievement and close the achievement gap, but suggested multiple assessments be used to gauge student and school success, rather than a single test.
NSBA has urged Obama’s transition team to suspend the NCLB regulations issued by the Education Department in October until the new administration has an opportunity to review them. [See page 2 for more details. NSBA has prepared a set of policy recommendations for the new president. See the Federal Action Alert on page 9.]
Obama also proposed a wide range of initiatives aimed at improving the teacher force, including new incentives for attracting and retaining teachers for hard-to-staff schools and subject areas and performance-based pay for high-performing teachers. It’s unclear whether those provisions would be addressed as part of the NCLB reauthorization or through separate legislation.
The president-elect also expressed his support for charter schools, but it’s unclear what kind of role he favors for local school boards and the extent of control they would have over charters. And Darling-Hammond says Obama also is interested in 21st century skills, the use of portfolios to assess student achievement, and individualized learning.
Following the election, NSBA released an official statement expressing optimism that Obama will carry through on his promise to make education one of his highest domestic priorities and propose a budget that invests in children and their education.
However, even though the Democrats will have a solid majority in both the House and Senate, that is no guarantee that Congress will provide unqualified support for Obama’s education proposals. “It is one thing for the president to develop a policy,” Resnick cautions. “It is another thing for the key congressional leaders to buy into it or all of its details.”
Reproduced with permission from
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