The Education Department would be funded at $15-billion for the 1983-84 school year, up $300 million from this year, under a bill passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee last week.
The bill, which also sets the fiscal 1983 budgets for the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services, includes increases for the Chapter 1 program for disadvantaged children, education of the handicapped, impact aid, and vocational and adult education.
Funding for the education block-grants program would be reduced slightly next year.
The Senate was expected to act on the measure early this week. The bill, which was passed by the House on Dec. 1, must be passed this week, or a “continuing resolution"--a package bill that includes several appropriations bills--will be necessary.
Continuing Resolution
Education programs, along with those funded by most federal agencies, currently are operating under a continuing resolution that expires on Dec. 17.
The Senate committee, chaired by Senator Mark O. Hatfield, Republican of Oregon, added more than $700 million for education programs to the House-passed version of the bill.
The committee’s version is more than $5 billion greater than the bud-get requested by President Reagan.
Among the fiscal 1983 spending levels set by the Appropriations Committee are:
$3.2 billion for the Chapter 1 program;
$475 million for the education block-grants program;
$1.1 billion for education of the handicapped;
$708.5 million for vocational education;
$95 million for adult education;
$475 million for the impact-aid program; and
$138.1 million for bilingual education.
In addition, the bill would provide $3.1 billion for the Guaranteed Student Loan Program and $193.4 million for National Direct Student Loans. It would also provide $2.4 billion for the Pell Grant program.
Senator Mark O. Hatfield
