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February 8, 2006

NSBA calls President's Bush budget a mockery of NCLB

President Bush's new budget proposal released this week has many education advocates reeling in disbelief. With a new $100 million voucher program and new math, science, and high school initiatives that will surely take funds away from still-underfunded Title I and IDEA programs, what's a school board member to do? Fight back!

NSBA President Joan Schmidt and Executive Director Anne Bryant issued a strong statement yesterday saying that the budget request "makes a mockery of the words 'No Child Left Behind.'" And more:

"The President's proposal for Title I, the principal source of federal funding to implement NCLB at the local level, would be funded at the same level for the third budget cycle. If the President's proposal is adopted, the program will have been increased by about 8 percent over four budget cycles—hardly a priority. This comes at a time when Title I enrollments, comprising the most educationally disadvantaged students, are rising along with the cost of providing services to these students, including expensive sanctions mandated by the federal law on schools that don't meet the federal requirement of Adequate Yearly Progress.

"Likewise, the President's budget proposal would level fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act this year and, therefore over a period of three budget cycles. Under the President's proposal, this year's combined shortfall for Title I and IDEA will well exceed $25 billion—despite the funding commitment made when Congress and the President enacted NCLB in 2002 and reauthorized IDEA in 2004.

"While the President's budget grinds down critical support to public education, it simultaneously proposes a new $100 million voucher program. This proposal flies in the face of the Administration's own standard that its education policies will be based on scientific evidence of success and that there be accountability for performance."

Read the entire statement here.

Posted February 8, 2006 4:57 PM | No Child Left Behind

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