Goals 2000: The House would eliminate all Goals 2000 funding -- a cut of $372 million from 1995 and $750 million less than the President's proposal for 1996 -- severely undermining State and local efforts to reform elementary and secondary education and achieve the National Education Goals. This would terminate funding just at the point when communities and States have completed their planning and begun to implement comprehensive reforms based on their own high academic standards. An estimated 10,000 schools would be cut off from funding designed to help them better use their resources to improve teaching and learning. The House would also eliminate funding for the new Parental Assistance Centers -- approximately 40 new centers whose mission will be to strengthen the involvement of parents in the education of their children. These Centers are due to receive their first year of planned four-year awards this summer.
Title I Grants for Disadvantaged Students: The House would slash support for helping poor children reach the same challenging academic standards as other students by over $1.1 billion or 17 percent. This cut would deny assistance to more than 1.1 million educationally disadvantaged students. In addition, this cut includes a $113 million or 17 percent reduction in Concentration Grants from 1995, and a 100 percent reduction in Targeted Grants from the President's 1996 budget request. While the President has requested increased funding and greater targeting of those funds towards communities with the highest concentrations of poor children, the House maintains the status quo.
Safe and Drug-Free Schools: The House would cut Federal support for drug-free schools and communities programs by $266 million, or nearly 60 percent, sharply reducing drug abuse and violence prevention activities currently serving about 39 million students in 94 percent of the Nation's school districts.
School-to-Work Opportunities: The House would cut funds to States ready to implement school-to-work systems by $20.6 million or 16 percent from the 1995 level, and by $105 million or more than half from the President's 1996 budget for these ongoing activities. These systems are already starting to help smooth the transition for youth from schools to rewarding careers and further education and training. Under the President's budget, with combined funds from ED and DoL, 28 States would be entering their second or third years of 5-year Federal commitments, and 15 additional States would begin their 5-year grants.
Eisenhower Professional Development State Grants: The House would end over $250 million in Federal support for State and local efforts to prepare educators to teach to high standards in the core academic subjects. States would lose an average of $4.8 million.
Bilingual and Immigrant Education: The House would cut Federal support for the education of limited English proficient and immigrant students by more than $100 million or 50 percent from the 1995 level, and $197 million or 66 percent from the President's 1996 budget. This is a clear attempt to eventually eliminate this program -- as called for in the House Budget Resolution passed earlier this year. This will cut services to almost 240,000 children, and eliminate support for bilingual teacher training and research.
Special Education: The House would reduce by $175 million or 69 percent competitively funded research, technical assistance, and training activities designed to improve education for children with disabilities. Some 200 projects that currently provide information to schools and others to improve services would be terminated, and 60 centers that provide training and information to 200,000 parents across the country would be closed down. The House also would eliminate over 600 grants to higher education institutions that are training over 13,000 new special education teachers and other personnel who work with children with disabilities.
Vocational Education: The House would cut Basic State Grant funding by $273 million or 28 percent, denying assistance needed by communities and States to prepare youth and adults to pursue productive careers in a changing economy.
Adult Education: The House would consolidate most Adult Education funding under the Basic State Grant -- as proposed by the Administration -- but would reduce overall funding by $25 million or 9 percent, eliminating services to 125,000 adults.
Direct Student Loan Administration: The House would make an arbitrary, $230 million cut, making it difficult to implement the Direct Student Loan program -- which simplifies loan administration for colleges, eliminates unnecessary subsidies to an array of banks and middlemen organizations, and provides loans to millions of students with more flexible repayment terms.
Federal Pell Grants: The House would raise the Pell Grant maximum award by $100 to $2,440, but also raise the minimum grant to $600, with a net impact of eliminating awards for over 175,000 low-income postsecondary students.
Federal Perkins Loans: The House would terminate new Perkins Loan Federal Capital Contributions -- a $158 million reduction that would eliminate loans to approximately 150,000 needy college students.
State Student Incentive Grants: The House abruptly eliminates this $63 million State-matched, need-based postsecondary grant program, denying awards to 212,000 needy college students.
Byrd Honors Scholarships: The House would terminate this program, denying $1,500 merit-based scholarships to over 19,400 students.
Educational Technology: The House would eliminate $32 million in support for Star Schools distance education programs and for Ready to Learn television programming designed to enhance the development of young children and help prepare them for school. Since its inception in 1988, the Star Schools program has served more than 10,000 schools in 48 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. More than 200,000 students and 30,000 teachers have participated in instruction and staff development that otherwise would have been unavailable to them. The Ready to Learn program will increase the quality programming available to young children through public television.
Department Discretionary Programs: The House would implement a new overall policy of eliminating or consolidating discretionary grant programs that support research, demonstration, training, technical assistance, and evaluation activities that help States, communities, and higher education institutions improve education at all levels. The bill would eliminate $300 million to $400 million for such activities, while providing merely a small $20 million increase in Education Research that might be used for similar projects. This new approach essentially ends one of the oldest, most efficient, and cost-effective Federal roles in education: supporting State and local development and dissemination of effective educational practices throughout the Nation.
Overall Department Budget: The House Appropriations Subcommittee would reduce 1996 total discretionary funding for Department of Education programs by $3.9 billion or 16 percent -- from a 1995 post-rescission level of $24.5 billion to $20.6 billion in 1996. The Subcommittee bill is nothing less than a down payment on the elimination of effective Federal support for education. It is an attack on programs that will improve academic achievement, create safer school environments, improve the quality of our teachers, promote parental involvement, and provide innovative technology in our classrooms.
July 13, 1995
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