Federal Update February 10, 2004

PRESIDENT'S BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2004 UNVEILED!

Budget priorities are consistent with State of the Union Address

The President's budget for fiscal year 2005 was unveiled Monday, February 2nd. Overall, the budget increases military spending by 7%; homeland security by 10% and holds the rest of discretionary spending by 0.5%. The estimated budget deficit is projected at $521 billion. Remember that the budget proposal is just the beginning of the federal legislative process. The President's proposals must work their way through Congress.

The FY05 proposed education budget is $66.4 billion. $57 billion of the proposed budget is discretionary spending, an increase of $1.7 billion or 3% over FY04. The balance, $9.1 billion, is mandatory spending. The budget proposal provides $13.3 billion in Title I No Child Left Behind grants, an increase of a $1 billion. The other big winner is special education, receiving a $1 billion increase from FY04 - a total investment of $11.1 billion.

Education Program Eliminations

Education programs targeted for elimination in the budget would "free up" $1,410,700,000 in funding.

The following Perkins programs are slated for elimination under the President's proposal:

• Tech Prep
• Tech Prep Demonstration Sites
• Vocational Education National Programs
• Occupational and Employment Information
• Other proposed eliminations include:
• Alcohol Abuse Reduction
• Community Technology Centers
• Comprehensive School Reform
• Demonstration Projects to Ensure Quality Higher Education for Students with Disabilities
• Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Math and Science Education
• Eisenhower Regional Math and Science Education; Elem. and Secondary School Counseling
• Literacy Programs for Prisoners
• National Writing Project
• Ready to Teach
• Regional Education Laboratories
• Regional Technology In Education Consortia
• Smaller Learning Communities
• Women's Educational Equity
• Student Financial Aid
• Pell Grants - The budget proposal include $12.8 billion, or a 7.1% increase for the Pell grant program, bringing the maximum grant award to $4,050.
• Federal Perkins Loans - The budget proposal drops Perkins loans by 59.4% to funding at $67 million from $165 million in FY2004.
• Leveraging Student Assistant Program (LEAP) - Zero funding is proposed for FY2005 from $66 million in FY2004.
• Supplemental Grants and Federal Work-Study - Level funding proposed.
• State Scholars

The budget proposal includes $33 million for aid to students and as noted above, $12 million for States to establish State Scholars programs. The State Scholars provides low- income students who take a rigorous curriculum up to $1,000 in additional college aid. A rigorous curriculum is defined as at least three years of math and science, four years of English and social studies, and foreign language courses.

Carl D. Perkins Vocational Technical Education Act

Under the heading of "getting students ready for college and the workforce" the budget documents note "high school test scores are declining, career and technical education programs are outdated and have proven ineffective, the cost of higher education continues to rise and the percentage of minority and low-income students going to college remains unacceptably low. To address these challenges, the President is committed to focusing Federal resources on successful programs serving young adults and the developing promising new initiatives that build on these successful programs." This sets the stage for the Administration's proposed changes in Perkins.

As with the President's FY2004 proposed budget, the Administration is proposing to eliminate Perkins and calls for the establishment of a new $1 billion block grant legislation - Secondary and Technical Excellence Education Act (Sec Tech). Sec Tech was first introduced in the FY04 proposed budget documents. That version of Sec Tech was met with much concern. Over the past year, the Department of Education, Office for Vocational and Adult Education has been talking to the field, listening to these concerns and recommendations. Discussions continue in February, when OVAE calls in community college leaders for input toward the development of a more detailed outline, as well as possibly legislative language, over the next few months.

Secondary and Technical Excellence Education Act (Sec Tech)

The Administration's Perkins reauthorization proposal would "create a coordinated high school and technical education improvement program. The program would support and extend the goals of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by requiring States and Local Education Agencies to focus more intensively on improving student outcomes, such as academic achievement, and ensuring that students are being taught the necessary skills to make successful transitions from the high school to college and college to the workforce.

Funds would flow to the States by formula, and States, in turn, would use most of their allocations to make competitive grants to partnerships between LEAs and community and technical colleges. In addition, under the proposed national activities authority, the Department of Education would make grants to States to expand the State Scholars programs that increase the percentage of high school students who have the solid academic foundation necessary to success in postsecondary education and a dynamic labor market."

"Updating Career and Technical Training. Career and technical training (or "vocational education") in our Nation's high schools has largely been an outdated relic, suitable for the classroom realities of the 1950s, instead of a dynamic, academically rigorous component of the 21st Century high school. As a result, students participating in vocational education programs in our Nation's high schools are often limited to courses that offer a narrow set of job skills and poor academic preparation for college and the modern workforce. For many decades, there has been scant evidence that the Department's Vocational Education State Grants program leads to positive student outcomes despite decades of increasing Federal investment.

The President is committed to ensuring that our Nation's high school and college students have the academic and technical skills necessary to prepare them for challenging careers in today's rapidly changing economy. Therefore, the Administration proposes to reinvigorate career and technical education by holding schools accountable for high academic achievement standards, improved job readiness skills, and critical employment outcomes such as quality job placements. The President's plan would target funds through a competitive State-based grant to high school, community college, and business partnerships that prove they can use the funds effectively.

In addition, the President's Budget proposes a new initiative to expand the capacity of community colleges to help students get jobs. With their connections to local businesses and neighboring schools, community colleges provide vital training and academic preparation for our Nation's young and old alike. In order to capitalize on these strengths, both the Departments of Labor and Education propose to strengthen the role of community colleges in workforce development and academic preparation."

From President Bush's FY2005 Budget Proposal,
February 2, 2004

The budget proposal includes $333 million to the Department of Education, in 'new' funding to initiate or expand activities to support the President's Jobs for the 21st Century Initiative, a joint initiative proposed for the Department of Education and the Department of Labor. The budget documents note that "(n)ew money funds Jobs for the 21st Century, but other increases are offset in part by reductions that reflect the President's priorities for the Department, including the elimination of categorical programs and low-priority activities in favor of funding through the flexible State grant programs created by the No Child Left Behind Act." This means that some program cuts are supporting this new program, including the cuts from Perkins which happen to be about $333 million.

The $333 million would be spent as follows:

$100 million for a secondary school reading initiative, Striving Readers, that would focus on developing and implementing research based interventions to improve the skills of teenage students that are reading below grade level;

$120 million for a new Secondary Education Mathematics Initiative under the Mathematics and Science Partnership program that will make 100-140 competitive grants to ensure that secondary-school mathematics teachers are highly qualified and help mathematics teachers meet the needs of struggling students;

$40 million for an Adjunct Teacher Corps Initiative to support approximately 60 to 100 awards to partnerships to create and implement arrangements for utilizing well-qualified individuals from business, technology, industry, and other areas as teachers in secondary schools on an adjunct basis;

$33 million for Enhanced Pell Grants for State Scholars to provide an additional Pell Grant award of up to $1,000 to low-income students who participate in the State Scholars program by taking a rigorous high school curriculum.

$12 million under the Administration's reauthorization proposal for "Secondary and Technical Education State Grants" to increase the number of States implementing State Scholars programs that encourage high school students to complete a rigorous four-year course of study.

$28 million for the Advanced Placement program to ensure that teachers in low-income schools are well-trained to teach AP and International Baccalaureate courses and to increase the rigor of the high school curriculum.

Jobs for the 21st Century - Department of Labor

The budget proposes $250 million in funding for the competitive community-based job training grants to community colleges for partnerships with employers in high-demand job sectors to train people for actual workforce needs as announced in the President's State of the Union Address.

"Adaptable and accessible, community colleges are vital partners in workforce development. The partnership between industry, which is driving the identification of skills, and community colleges, which are developing curricula and delivering training to prepare individuals to meet employers' demand, is a powerful economic development tool. Community colleges are increasingly critical providers of job training, both for degree-seekers and for workers seeking to retool, refine, and broaden their skills. To date, however, their potential has not been fully realized. The President's Budget builds on this potential by strengthening the role of community colleges in workforce development, providing $250 million for a new, employer-focused grant program for training in community and technical colleges. To receive funding, qualified applicants would be required to prepare a training plan with community colleges and employers, and certify that training would focus on industries with demonstrated labor shortages, such as health care and advanced manufacturing."

From President Bush's FY2005 Budget Proposal,
February 2, 2004

CUTS TO SOME AGENCIES, INCREASES FOR OTHERS

Proposed funding cuts to federal agencies and their program areas will have an impact on discretionary spending including special appropriations, or earmarks to higher education. For other areas, increases are sought. Proposals include:

• FIPSE: - 79.7%
• Education Research, Development and Dissemination: + 11.4%
• National Institutes of Health:
• Agriculture Department, Cooperative Research: - 18%
• NSF Research: + 4.7%
• Defense Department, Basic Research: - 5.2%
• Defense Department, Applied Research: - 12.3%
• National Endowment for the Humanities: + 19.7%
• National Endowment for the Arts: + 15.2%
• AmeriCorps: - 2.3%