Department of Education

Discussion on competitiveness and innovation take very different tacts between the statehouses and Washington, D.C. Education is the fundamental building block for a skilled workforce and for creating future scientists and engineers. While most states are investing more in education, the Administration's FY07 budget request for the U.S. Department of Education totals $54.41 billion, a 5.5 percent decrease from FY06 total spending of $57.55 billion.



The 2007 request, proposes to eliminate 42 programs that totalled $3.5 billion in FY06. Many also were proposed for elimination in 2006, but Congress disagreed with the Administration's plans.



Some of the proposed program cuts include:

• Educational Technology State Grants - $272.3 million to finish phaseout begun in FY06 of formula -based grants to integrate technology into classroom instruction.
• Federal Perkins Loans Cancellations - $65.5 million, as part of the effort to phase out the Perkins Loan program. In addition, the Administration is requesting colleges return $664 million used as a revolving fund to support new Perkins Loans.
• Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs - $303.4 million to support early college prep activities for low-income elementary and secondary students. These programs are intended to discourage dropping out and to encourage postsecondary enrollment.
• Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities State Grants - $346.5 million to provide formula grants to states. A portion of the funding would be shifted to the national program for safe and drug-free schools.
• Star Schools - $14.9 million to support competitive grants for distance education projects.
• Tech-prep Education State grants - $104.8 million to help develop structural links between secondary and postsecondary institutions that integrate academic and vocational education.
• TRIO Talent Search - $145.3 million to provide competitive grants to colleges to encourage disadvantaged youth to graduate from high school and enroll in postsecondary education.
• TRIO Upward Bound - $311 million to provide competitive grants to colleges to support intensive academic instruction for disadvantaged youth.
• Vocational Education State Grants - $1.2 million for formula grants supporting vocational educational instruction

The education budget shifts more funding toward several K-12 math and science programs:

• $250 million split evenly between two new initiatives to implement proven practices in math instruction: Math Now for Elementary School Students and Math Now for Secondary School Students;
• $10 million for a National Mathematics Panel to identify key mathematics content and instructional principles to guide the implementation of the Math Now Programs;
• $5 million for an Evaluation of Mathematics and Science Programs;
• $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; and,
• $90 million increase in the Advanced Placement (AP) program, which offers training and incentives for teachers to become qualified to teach rigorous core subject courses. Total AP spending requested for FY07 is $122 million.

The Education Department's FY07 budget also would provide $35 million for a greatly expanded 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 languages "critical to our national security," such as Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Hindu, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Urdu.



At $981.2 million, requested FY07 funding for the 21st Century Learning Centers reflects no change. The centers are designed to help communities establish or expand learning centers that provide extended learning opportunities for students and related services to their families.



Requested FY07 funding of $182.2 million for the Mathematicsand Science Partnerships also reflects no change from the FY06 appropriation. This program provides state formula grants to develop rigorous mathematics and science curricula, distance learning programs, and incentives to recruit college graduates with degrees in math and science into the teaching profession.



On the research front, the Institute of Education Sciences would receive $554.5 million, a 7.2 percent increase, in FY07 funding. The institute is intended to fund programs of research, development and dissemination in areas where knowledge of learning and instruction is inadequate.

• The Research, Development and Dissemination funding request for FY07 is $162.6 million (no change) to help support the National Center for Educational Research (NCER), which oversees directed research, field-initiated studies, and research and development centers. The ED SBIR program is administered by NCER.

Other key budget issues include:

• $1.475 billion for a renewed High School Reform proposal designed to more thoroughly extend No Child Left Behind (NCLB) principles to the high school level. The argument for eliminating several of the larger programs mentioned above is they would become redundant with approval of the much smaller High School Reform initiative. A similar proposal was defeated in Congress in FY06.
• $100 million for America’s Opportunity Scholarships for Kids, a competitive grant program that would provide new educational options for low-income students attending schools identified for restructuring under NCLB.
• Pell grant award sizes remain at $4,050 for the fifth year in a row, effectively decreasing the size of the award due to inflation.