Department of Education

According to the U.S. Department of Education (ED), federal funding represents only 8.9 percent of America’s spending on elementary and secondary education during the 2006-07 school year. That share in FY 2008 would be $56 billion according to the Administration’s budget request for the agency.



As in previous requests, the Administration’s FY08 budget request strives to eliminate a large number of programs, replacing many with a consolidated, but smaller, block grant program. Many of the 44 programs slated for termination address specific fields of study or population groups (e.g., economics education, mentally ill). The largest program on the chopping block, at $770 million, is for Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants, which provides need-based grant aid to eligible undergraduate students to help reduce financial barriers to postsecondary education.



The FY08 education budget includes specialized funding toward several K-12 math and science programs:

• $182.1 million for the Mathematics and Science Partnerships program, which provides grants to states and localities to improve academic achievement in mathematics and science by developing teaching skills for elementary and secondary school teachers and introducing integrated teaching methods based on scientifically based research and technology into the curriculum;
• $125 million for the Math Now for Elementary School Students initiative, geared to prepare K-6 students for more rigorous math courses in middle and high school;
• $125 million for the Math Now for Secondary School Students, to support research-based math interventions in middle schools;
• National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grants awarded to Pell Grant eligible third- and fourth-year undergraduates majoring in physical, life or computer sciences, mathematics, technology, engineering, or a critical foreign language would be at a maximum $4,000. The total request for SMART grants in FY08 is $350 million.
• $122.2 million for the Advanced Placement (AP) program, which offers training and incentives for teachers to become qualified to teach rigorous core subject courses in high poverty schools; and,
• $25 million for the Adjunct Teacher Corps to create opportunities for qualified professionals from outside the K-12 educational system to teach secondary-school courses in the core academic subjects, with an emphasis on mathematics and the sciences. The goal is to have 30,000 members in the program by 2015.

ED's FY08 budget also would provide $35 million for the National Security Language Initiative. This initiative is designed to expand foreign language education beginning in early childhood and continuing throughout formal schooling and into the workforce. Special emphasis is in critical need languages, such as Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Urdu.



Other key budget issues include:

• The maximum Pell grant award size would increase to $4,600. The total FY08 request for Pell grants is $15.4 billion.
• Academic Competitiveness Grants (ACG) awarded to students eligible for Pell Grants who completed a rigorous high school curriculum would be $1,125 and $1,950 maximum a year, for first-year and second-year college students, respectively. The total FY08 request for the ACG grants is $830 million.
• 21st Century Learning Centers - $981.2 million to provide resources for the states to award grants of at least $50,000 to school districts, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, and other public or private entities for centers that primarily serve students attending high-poverty schools.
• Career and Technical Education State Grants - $600 million to support local programs that focus on improving the academic achievement of career and technical education students.
• Institute of Education Sciences (IES) - $594.3 million. To fund programs of research, development and dissemination in areas where knowledge of learning and instruction is inadequate, IES would receive $162.5 million.