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President Bush outlined a fiscal 2007 budget request that proposes a 3.8 percent decline in overall Department of Education spending, even while seeking new programs (shown in bold). To pay for those additions, plus increases in others, he’s asking for a host of cuts.
| FY 2006 FINAL BUDGET | PRESIDENT’S FY 2007 REQUEST | % CHANGE | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title I program for disadvantaged students | 12.7 billion | 12.7 billion | 0 |
| Speical education state grants | 10.6 billion | 10.7 billion | +.01 |
| Math Now for elementary school students | — | 125 million | — |
| America’s Opportunity Scholarships for Kids | — | 100 million | — |
| Striving Readers | 29.7 million | 100 million | +236 |
| President’s high school initiative | — | 1.5 billion | — |
| Vocational and technical education (Perkins Act) | 1.3 billion | 0 | -100 |
| Safe and Drug-Free Schools | 346.5 million | 0 | -100 |
| Educational technology state grants | 272.3 million | 0 | -100 |
| Even Start family literacy | 99 million | 0 | -100 |
| GEAR-UP college-readiness program | 303.4 million | 0 | -100 |
| TOTAL Discretionary spending | $56.6 billion* | $54.4 billion | -3.8% |
| *The final FY 2006 discretionary-spending figure includes adjustments. Specifically, it does not include $1.6 billion in emergency appropriations for hurricane relief, but does include $600 million in discretionary student-loan funding that was previously categorized as mandatory funding. The 2007 budget request classifies the $600 million as discretionary spending. | |||
| SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education and Education Week | |||