FY 2000 Budget Summary - February 1999
Over the past six years President Clinton has worked with the Congress to enact the most comprehensive, wide-ranging elementary and secondary education reforms in history. The Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the Improving America?s Schools Act, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997, the Reading Excellence Act, and Class Size Reduction?all were designed to help States and school districts put into place challenging standards for all students. This new legislation was accompanied by substantial new budgetary resources, as the Department of Education?s discretionary budget rose from $23.0 billion in fiscal year 1996 to $33.5 billion in fiscal year 1999, an increase of $10.5 billion or 46 percent.
Partly as a result of these efforts, nearly every State has set higher standards for public schools, and there are promising signs of real progress toward meeting those higher standards. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), for example, has shown significant increases in the percentages of 4th grade students scoring at both the basic and proficient achievement levels, particularly among students in high-poverty schools. The National Education Goals Panel reported that between 1990 and 1996, 27 States significantly increased the percentage of 8th graders scoring at either the Proficient or the Advanced level on the NAEP math test.
Several States have made remarkable progress in a very short period of time. Texas, for example, increased the percentage of its 4th grade students scoring at the Proficient or Advanced levels on the NAEP math test from 15 percent in 1992 to 25 percent in 1996. North Carolina more than doubled the percentage of its 8th graders reaching the same standard in mathematics achievement, from 9 percent in 1990 to 20 percent in 1996.
When the Rand Corporation set out to identify the factors accounting for the success of North Carolina and Texas in improving student achievement, it found that both States had pursued education policies that aligned standards, curricula, and assessments and that held schools accountable for student academic performance.
The President?s 2000 budget request for education is designed to help bring that same combination of standards and accountability that is working so well for Texas and North Carolina to every State and school district in the Nation.
The President is requesting $34.7 billion in discretionary appropriations for the Department of Education in fiscal year 2000, an increase of $1.2 billion or 3.7 percent over the 1999 level.
Major increases in the 2000 request include $400 million for after school enrichment activities under the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, $320 million to bring new accountability and turn around low-performing schools in the Title I program, $200 million to hire more teachers in the new Class-Size Reduction program, $190 million for Adult Education programs that improve literacy and help immigrants learn English, and $120 million to provide new pathways to college for disadvantaged students through the GEAR UP initiative. College financial aid also continues to increase in the 2000 budget with a $125 boost in the maximum Pell Grant and increases for Work-Study and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants.
Total Department Appropriations
(in billions of dollars)
|
|
2000 |
|
Discretionary |
$29.9 |
$33.5 |
$34.7 |
Mandatory |
5.8 |
5.5 |
3.5 |
Total |
35.7 |
39.0 |
38.2 |
The Department?s 2000 request is complemented by significant non-discretionary investments in education, including a renewed School Construction and Modernization tax incentive, the HOPE Scholarship and Lifetime Learning tax benefits that families are claiming for the first time this year, and the e-rate subsidies for educational technology. In particular, the School Construction proposal?which the President is making for the third year in a row?would support $22 billion in interest-free bonds to help build new schools to ease overcrowding, make safety repairs, and upgrade facilities to accommodate new technologies. The combination of discretionary and non-discretionary resources in the President?s budget is targeted to the following areas:
President Clinton has often said that someone, somewhere in America has the solution to nearly every problem faced by our schools. We have long known the ingredients for successful schools; the challenge is to give parents and teachers and superintendents the tools to put them in place and stimulate real change right now. Smaller classes in the early grades, technology in every classroom, and money to put research into practice are just three of the proposals below that can help.
$600 million for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, an increase of $400 million to help some 2,000 additional school districts create or expand after-school programs offering academic and recreational services to students. The request, along with a proposed requirement for matching funds, would support about 2,500 districts and serve approximately 1.1 million students of the estimated 15 million school-aged children who go home alone after school each day.
$461 million for Goals 2000 State grants to support State and local educational reform efforts and help approximately 5,000 school districts to implement the types of reforms necessary to ensure that their students are able to meet challenging State standards. The General Accounting Office recently reported that many State officials considered Goals 2000 to be a "catalyst" and "a significant factor in promoting their education reform efforts."
$450 million for the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, a $25 million increase, to help schools integrate technology into the curriculum and ensure that teachers are trained to use educational technology effectively.
$200 million to strengthen accountability in Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The request would reserve $200 million in Title I funds to accelerate implementation of the Title I accountability provisions. These funds will enhance State efforts to improve low-performing schools.
$175 million for the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstrations program, an increase of $30 million to provide new grants to an estimated 560 schools and continue support for more than 2,700 schools already using CSRD funds to carry out research-based school improvement.
$130 million for Charter Schools, an increase of $30 million, to support the start-up of up to 1,700 new or redesigned schools that offer enhanced public school choice and have the flexibility to offer innovative educational programs, in exchange for greater accountability for student achievement.
$109 million for the National Education Research Institutes, an increase of $45 million, to help meet the growing demand by parents, teachers, and administrators for research-based information on what works in education. Roughly $25 million of the increase would be used for a joint Department of Education/National Science Foundation research initiative on reading and mathematics in the early grades.
$20 million for the Advanced Placement Incentive program, an increase of $16 million, to increase opportunities for students to enroll in and complete advanced placement programs by supporting State and local efforts to develop AP and other challenging courses and train teachers for those courses.
$16 million to continue development of the voluntary national tests in reading and math, including pilot-testing of test items and field-testing of test forms.
High standards are the key to all effective education reform, and the move to high standards starts with mastering the basics. Reading, writing, and challenging mathematics are the gateways to future learning for all students. The Federal role in supporting the basics is especially critical for low-income students and students with disabilities. The 2000 budget includes the following programs focused on mastering basic skills:
$1.4 billion for the Class Size Reduction program, an increase of $200 million, would support the hiring of more than 38,000 teachers in the second year of the program, or almost 40 percent of the President?s commitment of 100,000 new teachers over 7 years. The program is aimed at reducing average class sizes to 18 students in grades 1 through 3 nationwide and also provides training to help teachers teach reading and other subjects effectively in small classes.
$286 million for the Reading Excellence program, an increase of $26 million to expand support for extended learning time for all children to practice and further develop their reading skills, to train teachers in reading instruction, and to promote family literacy activities. This program responds to the President?s America Reads Challenge, which calls for all children to read well and independently by the end of the third grade.
$8 billion for Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, an increase of $320 million, to help children in high-poverty schools reach the same challenging academic standards as other students. The request would provide additional funds to higher-poverty schools through the Targeted Grants formula, while reserving about $200 million to help States and local districts turn around low-performing schools.
$65 million for Community-Based Technology Centers, an increase of $55 million to expand access to technology-based resources for low-income families by bringing technology to public housing, community centers, libraries, and other community facilities. Projects help community residents gain technology skills, take courses on-line, and access on-line job databases and other information.
$50 million for the Special Education Primary Education Intervention program, a new initiative to help school districts meet the needs of children aged 5 through 9 who have marked problems learning to read or who have behavioral problems. Hundreds of thousands of young children who may later be identified as learning disabled or emotionally disturbed could benefit from early intervention.
$30 million for Eisenhower Professional Development Federal Activities, an increase of $6.7 million that would be used to support America Counts, a new initiative to ensure that middle school students master the fundamentals of algebra and geometry. These "gateway" subjects are essential pre-requisites for higher-level math and science courses in high school and college.
$14 million for efforts to improve writing, including $10 million for the National Writing Project to improve the teaching of writing in every State and geographic area and $4 million to develop and evaluate models of effective writing instruction.
$9.5 million for Civic Education, an increase of $2 million to support efforts by the Center for Educational Technologies to design and develop a CD-ROM that would complement the "We the People" curriculum by helping young people to study and explore the United States Constitution.
Improved student achievement starts with teachers in every classroom who are prepared to teach to high standards. Raising the bar for teachers will be especially difficult in view of estimated shortage of 2 million teachers over the next 10 years, but is essential if we are to meet the educational needs of growing numbers of disadvantaged and minority students. The following proposals will help:
The $1.4 billion Class Size Reduction program contributes to better teaching not only through smaller classes but also by allowing school districts to use up to 15 percent of their allocations to improve teacher quality through such activities as testing new teachers for academic content knowledge and providing current teachers instruction in teaching reading and other subjects effectively in small classes.
$335 million for Eisenhower Professional Development State Grants helps States and school districts provide the intensive professional development needed to ensure that there is a talented and dedicated teacher in every classroom.
$115 million for Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants, an increase of $40 million, to help States improve the quality of their teaching force, strengthen the capacity of educators to design effective teacher education programs, and reduce shortages of qualified teachers in high-poverty school districts.
$75 million for Bilingual Education Professional Development, an increase of $25 million, to address the critical national shortage of well-prepared bilingual and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teachers. The State of California, for example, recently reported a shortfall of over 20,000 bilingual and ESL teachers.
$30 million for the Middle School Teacher Training initiative, which would support a technology teacher leader in every middle school and encourage schools to establish technology literacy requirements.
$18.5 million for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, which administers a voluntary assessment and certification process for teachers based on national standards of excellence. Funds support the development of standards and assessments in up to 30 specialty areas as well as teacher subsidies to help certify 105,000 teachers by the year 2006.
$18 million for Troops to Teachers to help retiring military personnel and other mid-career professionals become teachers in public schools.
$10 million for a new American Indian Teacher Corps program, which over the next five years would recruit and train 1,000 new Indian teachers to work in Native American communities. The initiative would fund program costs at Tribal Colleges and other postsecondary institutions, pay tuition and living expenses for prospective teachers, and support in-service training for educators already employed in Indian schools.
Threats of violence, the temptation of drugs and alcohol, and crumbling facilities are major obstacles to higher academic achievement in too many schools, as well as a major worry for parents and families. The proposals below will help eliminate these obstacles and give parents peace of mind.
$22 billion in interest-free bonds for School Construction to help school districts pay for urgently needed repairs (many of them safety-related), modernize facilities to take advantage of new educational technologies, and build new schools to serve booming elementary and secondary enrollments.
$439 million for Safe and Drug-Free Schools State grants, which help nearly all school districts develop and implement programs designed to reduce drug use and violence in schools. The request would provide larger grants to the districts with the greatest need for prevention programs by requiring States to distribute 30 percent of their funds as competitive grants.
$50 million for the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Coordinator initiative, an increase of $15 million, to pay for 1,300 drug coordinators who will serve up to 6,500 middle schools.
$12 million for "Project SERV" (School Emergency Response to Violence), which will support efforts by the Department?in partnership with other Federal agencies?to provide emergency assistance to schools affected by violence or other traumatic incidents.
The expansion of Federal postsecondary student financial aid under President Clinton means that no student is precluded from a college education for financial reasons. Larger Pell grants, expanded work-study opportunities, lower borrowing costs on student loans, and generous Hope and Lifetime Learning tax benefits make college possible for all who qualify. Paying for college is still a difficult burden, however, especially for low- and middle-income families. The 2000 request for student aid will help reduce that burden:
Total student financial aid available would be expanded to $52.1 billion, a 3.9 percent increase over the 1999 level. Grants, loans, and work-study opportunities would be provided to over 8.7 million students, over 300,000 more than in 1999.
The Pell Grant maximum award would increase by $125 to $3,250, the highest ever, to improve access to postsecondary education for students from the neediest families. Nearly 3.9 million students, an increase of 53,000, would receive grants under the program.
A $64 million increase for Work-Study, for a total of $934 million, would achieve the President?s commitment to give 1 million recipients the opportunity to work their way through college. The Work-Study request also would bolster the President?s "America Reads" and "America Counts" initiatives under which Work-Study recipients serve as reading and math tutors.
A $12 million increase for SEOG would provide nearly $800 million in available grant aid to over 1.1 million needy undergraduate students.
In 2000, 12.7 million students and their families will save $7.5 billion through the HOPE Scholarship tax credit and Lifetime Learning tax credit, which help pay postsecondary educational expenses. In addition, the Education IRA will promote savings for future educational expenses.
A new $17 million D.C. Resident Tuition Support program would pay the difference between in-State and out-of-state tuition at all public institutions of higher education in Maryland and Virginia on behalf of eligible D.C. residents.
Despite the availability of significant postsecondary student financial assistance, too few disadvantaged and minority students pursue and complete a postsecondary education. Most if not all jobs in our technology-based economy require some form of college education. Continued American prosperity in the 21st century will require the skills and contributions of all our citizens. The proposals below are intended to increase college-going and college-completion rates for disadvantaged and minority students, in part by encouraging them to think about college in the early grades so that they take the appropriate courses and are prepared for success in postsecondary education.
$240 million for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), an increase of $120 million, to help give an estimated 381,000 disadvantaged students the skills and encouragement they need to successfully pursue postsecondary education. The request would support early intervention services such as mentoring, tutoring, and career counseling in nearly 1,000 high-poverty middle schools.
$630 million for TRIO, an increase of $30 million, to improve postsecondary participation and completion rates of disadvantaged individuals through outreach and student support services extending from middle school through graduate education.
$260 million for Title III Aid for Institutional Development, an increase of $22 million, to expand support for institutions enrolling large numbers of disadvantaged and minority students. The total includes a $14 million or nearly 11 percent increase for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and would double funding to $6 million for Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities.
$35 million for a new College Completion Challenge Grants program that would help postsecondary institutions increase the persistence rate of students who are at risk of dropping out. Funds would be used to strengthen student support services, augment student aid awards, and finance intensive summer programs.
$20 million for Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships would double funding to enhance the delivery of postsecondary education and lifelong learning opportunities for citizens in all settings.
The $15 million Preparing for College initiative would provide vital information to young students and their parents about the importance of higher education and the steps needed to go to college.
Hispanic Americans are the Nation?s fastest growing minority group and one that presents a special challenge to our educational system. Barriers of language and culture have contributed to a persistently high dropout rate and discouraged many Hispanics from pursuing higher education. The 2000 request includes the following proposals targeting the educational needs of Hispanic Americans:
$468 million for Adult Education State Grants, an increase of $103 million aimed primarily at expanding State efforts to help immigrant and other limited English proficient adults, including Hispanics, to learn English and make a successful entry into the workforce and the mainstream of society.
$402 million for three programs that serve the children of migrant agricultural workers (and, in some cases, migrant workers themselves) to improve the education of one of America?s most disadvantaged populations. The Title I Migrant, High School Equivalency, and College Assistance Migrant programs would receive increases totaling $34 million.
$70 million for an Adult Education initiative to demonstrate methods of providing instruction in English as a second language and civics/life skills to immigrants. The demonstration would be focused on serving young adult immigrants who have entered this country during the last few years, were never enrolled in American schools, and who often completed minimal education in their native countries.
$75 million for Bilingual Education Professional Development, an increase of $25 million, to address the critical national shortage of well-prepared bilingual and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teachers. The State of California, for example, recently reported a shortfall of over 20,000 bilingual and ESL teachers.
$170 million for Bilingual Education Instructional Services, an increase of $10 million, to provide additional assistance to school districts that are enrolling increasing numbers of limited English proficient students and have little prior experience in serving these students.
$42 million for Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions, an increase of $14 million to expand the academic offerings, program quality, and institutional stability of postsecondary institutions serving over half of all Hispanic students.
Direct any questions to Martha Jacobs, Budget Service
This page last updated February 9, 1999 (saw).