Thursday, January 28, 2010

Federal funds for FY11

As the Obama administration has proposed a freeze on federal funds (with some exceptions) for the next several years, there's been some stirring in education circles about if this includes education programs like Title I.

It looks like it doesn't. The Washington Post reports:

To grease the legislative wheels, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said, the administration will reserve $1 billion to fund programs that may emerge through a revision of the 2002 law. In addition, he said, President Obama is proposing to raise elementary and secondary education spending by $3 billion in the fiscal year that begins in October.
As Education Week points out, "But $1 billion would be contingent on Congress passing a reauthorization of the ESEA. That's highly unusual, as Duncan acknowledged on the call."

In addition to that clash--recall, after all, that Congress, not the President, holds the purse strings--the Post points out that state revenues are declining, and there's a growing need from states for federal aid:

Prominent education advocates said they welcomed more funding. But state budgets, which account for far more of education spending than the federal share, are under enormous pressure because of declining tax revenue. There is huge demand for federal aid for special education and programs for the disadvantaged. And Obama is pushing a raft of initiatives on charter schools, teacher performance pay and other issues.

"Obviously, you're no longer talking about a freeze, and that's moving in the right direction," said Joel Packer, director of the Committee for Education Funding, which represents dozens of education groups. "But there are still going to be a lot of unmet needs that education advocates are going to be working with Congress to try to address."

4 comments:

Neil and Joan said...

Just an FYI. Federal '11 funds are not for the 2010-2011 school year, they are for the 2011-2012 school year. Congress is alaready working on the allocations for the 2010-2011 school year whch were appropriated last year.

Tracy Novick said...

Right.

Neil and Joan said...

Here is where the 2010-2011 bill currently stands:SUMMARY: FY 2010 LABOR, HEALTH & EDUCATION

APPROPRIATIONS

CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS BILL



Bill Total

FY 2009 Enacted: $155.049 billion (excludes emergency appropriations)

President’s Request: $160.706 billion

House Passed: $163.400 billion

Senate Committee: $163.100 billion

Final Bill: $163.565 billion



IMPROVING EDUCATION

Title I Grants for Low-Income Children: $14.5 billion, $1.5 billion above the request, for Title I grants to school districts to ensure that approximately 20 million disadvantaged children in nearly 55,000 public schools obtain the educational skills they need to compete in a global economy. These funds may also be used to support early childhood education activities.

School Improvement: $545 million, matching 2009, for assistance to approximately 13,000 schools across the country with chronically poor academic performance.

After School Centers: $1.2 billion, $35 million above the request and 2009, for tutoring, mentoring and enrichment activities for approximately 1.6 million children, nearly 50,000 more students than in 2009.

Teacher Incentive Fund: $400 million, $303 million above 2009, for the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF), which supports school districts and States that aim to reward effective teaching through compensation systems that reward entire high-need schools for raising student achievement.

Striving Readers: $250 million to transform Striving Readers into a new comprehensive literacy initiative from pre-K through grade12 to help struggling students build their literacy skills and improve the integration of reading initiatives across the Department of Education.

High School Graduation Initiative: $50 million for a new High School Graduation Initiative to target assistance to high schools that disproportionately contribute to the nation’s dropout crisis, as proposed by the Administration.

I know this is a long post. No need to publish.

Tracy Novick said...

Are you kidding? This is good stuff!