The tax cut package pushed through by President Bush and the Republican majority on Capitol Hill will cost our public schools dearly.  To make room for the huge tax cut that disproportionately benefits the top 1 percent of Americans, the President’s budget provided only a 5.5 percent increase in discretionary spending for the U.S. Department of Education, the smallest increase in six years.  In fact, after accounting for both inflation and student enrollment growth, the proposed increase for the Education Department drops to just 3.3 percent.

The President’s plan eliminates the School Renovation Grant Program and retroactively redirects the $1.2 billion already appropriated for renovation this year to other programs.  In South Carolina, more than $14 million was dedicated in fiscal year 2001 through this program to renovate aging schools.  Under the President’s plan that figure will be zero.  America’s schools are, on average, 42 years old, and nearly 25,000 public schools, almost one-third of all public school buildings, are in a serious state of disrepair.  As a result, more than 15 million students learn in facilities that have substandard heating, ventilation, plumbing, and roofing systems. 

During the presidential campaign, George W. Bush promised to fully fund special education saying, “IDEA [the Individuals with Disabilities Act] is a good idea.  But it’s an unfunded mandate.  My goal,” said the President, “is to work with Congress to get IDEA fully funded. Properly funded, the program will help children with disabilities receive a better education and help local school districts provide a better education.” 

In another broken campaign promise, Bush failed to fully fund special education.  President Bush’s budget proposed $7.3 billion for special education, which raised the federal contribution to special education costs from 15 percent to 17 percent.  Bush’s proposal translates to only an additional $141 per special education student next year – raising the federal contribution to $1,133 per student.  The average annual cost of special education amounts to about $6,500 per child.

The President’s proposal increases funding for Title I by only $459 million to $9.1 billion in FY 2002.  His plan includes a provision to distribute the funding only to the highest-poverty school districts and a portion of it would be reserved for state and district assistance to low-performing schools.  The impact of these proposals would be that many Title I schools would see no increase at all in FY 2002 funding.  Additionally, 4,298 school districts, 29 percent of all school districts, would lose Title I funding. 

            Finally, President Bush puts smaller class sizes at risk.  His budget proposes eliminating the Class Size Reduction program, instead lumping the funds into block grants with 5 other education programs. 

            Under the Class Size Reduction program, initiated by President Clinton, $1.6 billion has been authorized to hire 37,000 teachers to reduce class size for 1.9 million students.  Despite the fact that smaller class sizes have been found to have a significant impact on closing the achievement gap between high- and low-performing students.  Funds through this program in 2001 enabled South Carolina to hire an additional 453 teachers.  That funding is in jeopardy for future years. 

            The President has created a no-win scenario for our schools.   His education priorities are misplaced.  The programs he has chosen to eliminate or dilute are the very ones we need to protect.   Let’s hope that when Congress is called on to pass the education budget this fall, those priorities are rewritten.

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