| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Friday, February 6, 2004 |
| CONTACT:
Colleen Kroll |
(202)
225-5235 |
THE 2005 BUDGET
What It Means For Education
President Bush released his fiscal 2005
budget proposal to Congress and the public
for consideration on Monday February 2nd.
I would like to take this opportunity
to discuss this budget, paying particular
attention to the effect it will have on
our education system.
The $2.4 trillion budget for the fiscal
year, beginning in October, will put the
Government $521 billion in debt. As a
member of the fiscally conservative Blue
Dog Coalition, I believe this is unacceptable.
The FY2005 budget cuts sixty-five domestic
programs and leaves the nation's educational
system scrambling to fund programs including
No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Special Education,
reading programs, vocational training,
and Pell Grants for college bound students
who could not otherwise finance their
education. Cutting educational programs
will only serve to diminish the quality
of our economy's workforce in future generations.
Although the budget highlights the additional
$1 billion invested in the NCLB program
for the FY2005 budget, it fails to meet
the funding goals established at the time
of the bill's signing into law. This year
alone, the budget is $9.4 billion less
than what was promised, and, as a result,
2.4 million children will not get necessary
help with math and reading. I am committed
to working with Congress and the Administration
in a balanced and bi-partisan way to address
education as a priority for the future
of our country.
The following are a few of the major
budget issues that we in Congress will
have to address before enacting it in
2005:
- Grants Head Start a less than
three percent increase in funding, even
though the program currently only serves
sixty-percent of eligible preschoolers.
In addition, the budget changes the core
of the program by turning it into a block
grant program, eliminating comprehensive
educational, health and nutritional services
that participating children currently
receive.
- Cuts $1 billion from funding promised
to after-school programs in the NCLB Act,
leaving 1.3 million children without a
safe place to play and learn after school.
- Provides Special Education programs
$2.5 billion less, making public less
than half that promised by NCLB.
- Allocates only $2.9 billion to
teacher quality programs that train 56,000
teachers, accounting for $234 million
less than authorized under NCLB.
- Reduces federal investment in
education by $1.4 billion by eliminating
dozens of key programs, including dropout
prevention, family literacy, and comprehensive
school reform.
- Stops Impact Aid funding, jeopardizing
programs and services for children of
military families.
- Freezes the maximum Pell Grant
at $4,050 and cuts funding for Perkins
Loans by $100 million. It also restricts
or eliminates funding for campus-based
student aid programs such as work study,
grants, and loans to about 78,000 students.
Worse, this coincides with nationwide
tuition increases of as much as forty-percent
at state universities.
- Cuts Vocational Education by twenty-five
percent ($316 million) of that in the
proposed budget.
Overall, the Presidents budget provides
$57.3 billion for the Department of Education.
However, by eliminating thirty-eight educational
programs and freezing many others at the
2004 level of funding, it falls short
of providing a decent education for all
children. I firmly believe that part the
development of a highly educated workforce
is necessary if we wish for the US economy
to remain the strongest in the world.
Although the budget does not, as it stands,
promise the realization of that goal,
I believe that we in Congress will be
able to work together to affect important
changes to funding within this budget,
thereby honoring the promises that the
No Child Left Behind Act made to America's
Youth. |
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