A new report on the Reagan Administration’s Chapter 2 block-grants program reiterates the findings of previous studies that large urban districts and “high-cost students” have lost funding under the program, while smaller states and districts and private-school pupils have gained.
The analysis was written by Anne Henderson, an associate with the National Committee for Citizens in Education, a group based in Columbia, Md., whose efforts to study the block grants and establish an information clearinghouse on Chapter 2 have been supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The paper, “Anything Goes: A Summary Report on Chapter 2,” does not contain new data but synthesizes previously gathered information.
Ms. Henderson writes, “In districts where the grant is large enough to mount a new program, or to provide leverage for a new initiative, Chapter 2 seems to be making a difference.” But she questions the political future of the grants on the grounds that it is difficult to pinpoint the “improvement” they have brought about.
Established under the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981, Chapter 2 consolidated some 30 categorical programs, including federal desegregation aid. The program is due to expire in 1987.
