Education Gets 7.6% Hike in Obama Budget
Want more evidence that the Department of Education under Arne Duncan is a top priority for President Obama? Check out the president’s proposed FY 2011 budget. While the budget seeks to place an overall freeze on discretionary spending, it asks Congress to increase Education’s budget 7.6 percent to $49.7 billion, according to Bloomberg news service. An analysis by science education advocacy group, the Triangle Coalition, says that the proposed budget includes a $3 billion increase in funding for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) — the biggest single increase since ESEA was enacted in 1965. As already reported here, the Race for the Top competition would get an additional $1.35 billion, while $500 million would be earmarked for the Investing in Innovation fund. And, as Bloomberg notes, $900 million would go toward the effort to turnaround failing schools, a 65 percent jump.
The White House wants to eliminate six of ESEA’s 38 programs, which it claims are either duplicating state or local programs or haven’t proved to have significant impact. The remaining 32 would be consolidated into 11, and the overall result would save $122 million. If Congress agrees and overhauls ESEA, Obama would ask lawmakers to then give ESEA additional funding, up to $1 billion. Obama’s budget plan would also include $9.3 billion in competitive grants to states over 10 years to help them improve early-learning programs.
Filed under: K-12 Education News
