The Senate last week completed work on the spending bill that funds the Department of Education for fiscal 2004, which begins Oct. 1. The next step is for House and Senate lawmakers to meet in a conference committee to reconcile differences in their versions of the legislation. Here are highlights from the spending proposals.
| President’s Requests | House Version | Senate Version | |
| Total Education Department discretionary spending | $53.1 billion | $55.4 billion | $55.8 billion |
| Pell Grants | 12.35 billion | 12.35 billion | 12.35 billion |
| 21st Century Community Learning Centers | 600 million | 1 billion | 1 billion |
| State grants for special education | 9.53 billion | 9.87 billion | 11.06 billion |
| Teacher quality | 2.85 billion | 2.93 billion | 2.85 billion |
| School counseling | 0 | 32.3 million | 34.0 million |
| Smaller learning communities | 0 | 175 million | 161 million |
| Impact aid | 1.02 billion | 1.24 billion | 1.19 billion |