The effects of President Reagan’s fiscal 1984 budget proposal on various education-related federal programs are summarized in the following special section.
The budget figures listed include: (1) the actual appropriation figures for the fiscal year 1982; (2) the fiscal 1983 budget set by the Congressional continuing resolution last fall; (3) new proposals by the Administration to rescind funds from the 1983 budget; and (4) the Administration’s fiscal 1984 budget proposals.
The fiscal year 1984 begins on Oct. 1. Federal budget figures are listed in thousands of dollars.
Education for the Disadvantaged
Funding for the education of disadvantaged children, under Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (formerly Title I), would decrease by $154 million from the fiscal 1983 level. Grants to local education agencies would be increased under the proposal; grants to state agencies and for state administration would be reduced significantly from their current levels. The proposal would eliminate the Chapter 1 program that provides college and high-school-equivalency assistance for the children of migrant workers.
The Administration’s budget plan also mentions a legislative proposal to give states and school districts the option of providing compensatory-education services for disadvantaged children through a “voucher’’ system. Details regarding the plan, however, are unavailable. (See story on page 1.)
Fiscal 1982$3,040,9801983 Continuing Resolution$3,167,8941983 Rescission Proposal-$133,9251984 Budget Proposal$3,013,969
Science and Mathematics
Education
Precollegiate programs for science and mathematics would get a boost under the proposed budgets for the National Science Foundation and the Education Department. (See story on page 11.)
The foundation has proposed $20 million, which represents a $5-million increase over last year, to support two programs. The first, the Presidential Secondary School Science and Mathematics Teaching Improvement program, would receive $19 million for fiscal 1984--up $4 million from 1983. That program, according to the foundation, “will support workshops and training activities to improve the subject-matter knowledge of science and mathematics teachers in grades 6 through 12.”
The second program, the Presidential Awards for Teaching Excellence in Science and Mathematics, is expected to receive $1 million for fiscal 1984, the same amount as is planned for 1983. The awards program will honor 100 outstanding secondary-school teachers of science and mathematics each year who can “serve as models for their colleagues.”
As was true last year, the foundation included no funds for development and research in science education.
In the Education Department, $50 million would be spent for a state block-grants program to provide tuition grants to train teachers. The plan is aimed at retraining unemployed workers and teachers of less sought-after subjects. As originally conceived, it would have required matching state and local funds, but that component has been dropped.
Fiscal 1982$20,9001983 Continuing Resolution$15,0001983 Rescission Proposalno change1984 Budget Proposal$70,000
Tuition Tax Credits
The proposal to provide federal tax credits for parents who pay private-school tuition, which failed to pass in Congress last year, is scheduled to be introduced in the 98th Congress with few changes.
The Administration proposes a nonrefundable credit that would reimburse parents for up to 50 percent of their tuition expenses. The maximum allowable credit would be $100 in the calendar year 1983, $200 in 1984, and $300 thereafter, if the proposal is enacted. Taxpayers would not be eligible for the full credit if they earned more than $40,000; a partial credit would be available for those earning up to $60,000.
The tax credit would only be permitted for tuition at private schools that “do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin,” according to budget documents. The expected revenue loss from the program is $245 million in the fiscal year 1984, $526 million in 1985, and $753 million in 1986.
Fiscal 1983tax credit not available
1984 Budget Proposal$245,000
Education Block Grants
Funds for the third year of the education block-grants program would decrease slightly, from $479.4 million in the fiscal 1983 budget set by the Congress to $478.8 million in 1984.
The program was created in 1981 by the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act, which merged more than 30 categorical education programs in an effort to promote flexibility for local school districts. The new programs began in districts across the country last fall.
The block-grants package currently includes $450.6 million in funds that are distributed to states on a formula basis, and a $28.7-million discretionary fund to support priorities of the Secretary of Education. The budget proposes to rescind $2.5 million from the 1983 discretionary fund, and to freeze the program’s budget at the reduced level through 1984.
Fiscal 1982$470,4001983 Continuing Resolution$479,4201983 Rescission Proposal-$2,5411984 Budget Proposal$478,879
Vocational and Adult Education
Vocational- and adult-education programs would be folded into a block grant to states, with funding reduced by almost 40 percent from the current level. The Administration also has announced plans to send to the Congress a revised “New Federalism” proposal that would turn responsibility for vocational and adult education completely over to the states. If the New Federalism plan is approved by the Congress, vocational and adult education would join other programs as part of a larger state block-grants package.
Fiscal 1982$742,1861983 Continuing Resolution$823,6611983 Rescission Proposalno change1984 Budget Proposal$500,000
Education of the Handicapped
The Administration’s proposal last year to consolidate the 12 separate categorical programs that make up the federal special-education effort has been abandoned. For the fiscal year 1984, the programs would continue to be funded separately, for a total of $1.1 billion.
In dollars, that amount is the same special-education budget that the Congress enacted for 1983.
Fiscal 1982$1,068,5801983 Continuing Resolution$1,110,2521983 Rescission Proposalno change1984 Budget Proposal$1,110,252
Bilingual Education
The Administration has asked the Congress to reduce funding for bilingual education by $43.5 million, rescinding funds from the Congress’s fiscal 1983 budget, and carrying over the decrease in 1984. The proposal, which represents a 31-percent budget reduction, would also eliminate funding for bilingual school-desegregation grants.
Proposed changes in the program’s legislation, similar to those suggested last year, would broaden the statutory definition of a bilingual project to give school districts greater discretion in designing programs for limited-English-speaking children. School districts would be allowed to receive federal grants for a maximum of five years under the proposal.
Fiscal 1982$138,0581983 Continuing Resolution$138,0571983 Rescission Proposal-$43,5231984 Budget Proposal$94,534
Impact Aid
Funding for the impact-aid program, which provides financial assistance to school districts to offset the cost of educating children of federal employees, would be reduced by $15.2 million, or 3 percent.
Full impact-aid payments under section 3 of the law would be made only to “super-A” schools districts--those in which at least 20 percent of the total enrollment consists of children whose parents both live and work at federal installations. Payments to category “A” districts--those whose total enrollment of such children is less than 20 percent--would be prorated to the level allowed by remaining funds, estimated at 50 percent of the entitlement. No payments would be made to category “B” districts--those that enroll children whose parents either live or work at federal installations.
Fiscal 1982$463,2221983 Continuing Resolution$480,2001983 Rescission Proposal-$5,0001984 Budget Proposal$465,000
Head Start
The budget for basic Head Start projects, which provide early-childhood-development services to low-income preschoolers, would increase by 9 percent in the fiscal year 1984, to $958 million.
The $80-million budget increase will enable the number of children served in the basic program to increase from 395,800 to 424,900, according to budget documents.
The Department of Health and Human Services proposes to decrease support for training, technical assistance, and research from $35 million to $17 million. In addition, it would assume responsibility for meals served to children at Head Start centers, a $76-million program that is currently administered by the Agriculture Department.
Fiscal 1982$980,0001983 Continuing Resolution$989,0001983 Rescission Proposalno change1984 Budget Proposal$1,051,000
Student Financial Assistance
College students and their parents would be required to provide a minimum of 40 percent or $800--whichever is greater--of their educational expenses through either work or loans before they would be eligible to receive federal grants, under the Administration’s “self-help” proposal for college assistance. (See story on page 1.)
The proposal includes a plan to increase funding for the College Work-Study program by about 60 percent from its current level. Funding for the Guaranteed Student Loan (gsl) program would be reduced from its current level, mainly as a result of lower interest rates. Both total loan volume under the program and the amount of an average loan are expected to increase next year. All students, regardless of parental income, would be required to pass a financial “needs analysis” in order to qualify for a loan.
Students would be eligible to receive Pell Grants only after meeting the new 40-percent “self-help” standard. The maximum Pell Grant award, however, would increase from $1,800 in the current fiscal year to $3,000 in fiscal 1984.
The Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant and State Student Incentive Grant programs would be eliminated, and new capital contributions for the National Direct Student Loan program would be reduced significantly.
The Administration also intends to encourage families to save for their children’s college education by investing up to $1,000 per year in an Educational Savings Account, on which interest or dividends would be tax free.
1983 Continuing1983 Rescission1984 BudgetProgramFiscal 1982ResolutionProposalProposal
G.S.L.$3,073,846$3,100,500-$900,000$2,047,100Pell Grants$2,419,040$2,419,040no change$2,713,800Work Study$528,000$540,000no change$850,000N.D.S.L.$193,360$193,360no change$4,000S.E.O.G.$355,400$355,400no changeeliminatedS.S.I.G.$73,680$60,000no changeeliminated
Employment and Training
The first full year of the new Job Training Partnership Act, which replaced the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, would be funded at $3.6 billion.
The proposal would provide $1.9 billion for block grants to the states; $725 million for summer youth programs; and $240 million for employment and training assistance to dislocated workers. In addition, the Job Corps program would receive $586 million and other federally administered programs under the new legislation would receive $207 million.
Funding for the block grants would support an average of 406,000 trainees, according to budget documents. Approximately 8 percent of the state grants are earmarked for schools’ programs for training youths, and school officials are expected to participate in other components of the new program as well. Under the provisions of the job-training act, states would be required to provide up to $180 million in matching funds during the fiscal year.
Funding for the summer program would provide employment opportunities for about 718,000 youths, according to the documents, if the Congress accepts the Administration’s proposal to reduce the federal minimum hourly wage for youths during the summer months from $3.35 to $2.50.
Fiscal 1982$2,983,6581983 Continuing Resolution$3,704,3021983 Rescission Proposalno change1984 Budget Proposal$3,643,330
School Lunch and Child Nutrition
Funding for the National School Lunch Program would decline by $14.8 million, from $460.9 million to $446.1 million, and other aspects of the federal child-nutrition effort would be restructured.
Overall, funding for child-nutrition programs would drop by approximately $313 million.
The new budget proposes shifting the responsibility for determining eligibility for free and reduced-price meals in the school-lunch program from schools to local food-stamp agencies. “Eligibility determination and verification is a welfare and not an education function,” said the budget documents.
Also proposed is an indexed reimbursement rate for reduced-price school lunches. Currently, reduced-price reimbursement rates are always 40 cents less than the free-lunch reimbursement rate. The Administration would adjust this amount by the annual rate of inflation in an effort to distribute the burden of the adjustment subsidy among the government, the schools, and the students, according to the documents.
The Administration’s proposal includes the creation of a $535-million “general nutrition assistance grant,” which would combine the summer-feeding, child-care, and school-breakfast programs into a block-grants package. The package would receive 85 percent of the funds the programs are currently receiving separately.
In addition, food services for students in the Head Start program would be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services.
As was proposed last year, but not accepted by the Congress, the $5-million nutrition-education-and-training program would be eliminated.
Fiscal 1982$2,884,1001983 Continuing Resolution$3,175,6001983 Rescission Proposalno change1984 Budget Proposal$2,934,400
Arts and Humanities
Federal funds to support arts and humanities programs would decline by approximately 13 percent, while funds for museum programs would increase by 6 percent.
The overall budget of the National Endowment for the Humanities would decrease from its current $130.2 million, with funds for the endowment’s education division declining from $14.3 million to $13 million.
Programs of the National Endowment for the Arts, including those in schools, would be reduced from the current $144.1 million. Federal support for museum programs (funded under the Institute of Museum Services), which declined by 6 percent last year, would be restored to the fiscal 1982 level of $11.5 million.
1983 Continuing1983 Rescission1984 BudgetProgramFiscal 1982ResolutionProposalProposal
N.E.H$124,536$130,247no change$112,200N.E.A.$143,456$144,108no change$125,000I.M.S.$11,520$10,800no change$11,520
