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A Leaner Year is Proposed for Schools
By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO
WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 — Although President Bush called in
the State of the Union address for a major new
commitment to improving math and science instruction,
his budget for the coming year would cut the Education
Department's discretionary budget to $54.41 billion from
$55.92 billion in the current fiscal year.
The loss would follow more than $624 million in cuts to
the department's budget last year. And of 141 programs
across government that the administration is proposing to
eliminate, 42 are in the Education Department, the largest
concentration of programs that would disappear of any
agency. Among them are vocational education and several
programs totaling nearly $1 billion to improve the college
prospects of disadvantaged students.
"The budget shows that Bush's talk about increasing
competitiveness is phony," said John F. Jennings of the
Center on Education Policy, a nonprofit group. "The
amount isn't there. It's just like he's done with a number
of other things, a big splashy speech
aboutcompetitiveness, lots of applause and then he
doesn't provide the money to the schools to meet the
demands."
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said thepresident's
commitment to education remained strong. She said most
of the programs slated to end were small, with half
costing under $25 million a year. Some would be replaced
by larger initiatives that would serve the same purposes,
but bear his stamp and reflect his priorities, she said.
As part of his American Competitiveness Initiative, the
president's budget sets aside $250 million for improving
math instruction through 12th grade, along with $122
million to train math and science teachers to lead
Advanced Placement courses, up from $32 million in
2006. Though not part of the Education Department
budget, the initiative also doubled federal research grants
in the physical sciences, while spending on biomedical
research remains flat.
The single biggest item in the Education Department's
budget, Title I grants to high-poverty schools, would
increase by $200 million, but that money would go
exclusively for school restructuring under No Child Left
Behind. For the remaining schools, the money would
remain flat, and 29 states would see their Title I
allotments decline.
The budget also proposes $100 million that students in
some underperforming schools could use to attend
religious or secular private schools. A similar proposal in
last year's budget failed to pass in Congress.
— Diana Jean Schemo
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/07/politics/07educ.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
2006-02-07
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