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March 15, 2004

Senate passes budget resolution, House committee is next

On Friday, the U.S. Senate passed the fiscal year 2005 Budget Resolution by a vote of 51-45. This resolution, while non-binding, establishes general spending levels for FY05. NSBA did not support the resolution due to inadequate funding levels proposed for education. Although the resolution proposes a $1 billion increase for Title I and IDEA, these increases are far below the previously authorized levels. More importantly, this continues a trend of meager increases while the funding gap is growing between federal commitments to Title I and IDEA and actual federal funding.

Title I, the cornerstone program of No Child Left Behind, faces a growing gap between the federal resources promised, and provided. Under this budget resolution, the gap between funding and the promised level is $7.2 billion.

A $1 billion increase for IDEA will still leave the federal commitment at about half of what Congress promised, and the Congressional Research Services, the research arm of Congress, has proven that annual increases of $1 billion for IDEA will never lead to full funding. In the budget resolution, this shortfall will be $11.3 billion for FY05.

Meanwhile, the House Budget Committee began deliberations on their version of the FY05 Budget Resolution last week. We anticipate proposed funding levels to be close to the Senate Resolution, but deliberations will continue this week with education funding to be discussed. NSBA's Call-to-Action urges school board members to contact their House members on the committee and increase education funding. For more information please contact NSBA's Kathleen Branch or Dan Fuller.

Posted March 15, 2004 12:00 AM