Federal funds to support the Title I program for disadvantaged students--the largest single federal education program--should be cut in half next year, according to a proposal sent recently by the Office of Management and Budget to the Education Department.
Preliminary Recommendations
That reduction, which would slash Title I funding from $3.1 billion in fiscal 1981 to $1.5 billion in fiscal 1983, was contained in the budget office’s list of preliminary recommendations for the fiscal 1983 education budget. Fiscal 1983 begins next Oct. 1.
The budget document also contained plans to consolidate all handicapped-education programs, excluding rehabilitative services, into a single package of state block grants, sources said.
The proposed reductions, which were disclosed recently and later confirmed by Administration officials, included large-scale cuts for other programs as well. Those included:
Vocational and adult education, which is scheduled to be cut from $782 million in 1981 to $500 million in 1983--a 36-percent reduction;
Bilingual education, cut from $161 million in 1981 to $74 million in 1983--a 54-percent reduction;
Block Grants Package
The education block-grants package, cut from $535 million (as categorical programs) to $200 million--a 62-percent reduction;
Indian education, cut from $81.6 million to $43 million--a 47-percent reduction;
The department’s office for civil rights, cut from $46.9 million to $30 million--a 36-percent reduction; and
The National Institute of Education, a $65.6-million research office that would be eliminated by 1985.
Officials did not reveal the total proposed budget for the department for 1983, although other sources list the total as $8.3 billion. That figure would represent a 44-percent reduction from the 1981 operating level of $14.9 billion.
Changes Expected
Officials said they expect changes to be made in the proposal before it is introduced in its final form by President Reagan in the annual Presidential State-of-the-Union message next February.
The proposal also must be passed by Congress, which last year resisted many of the Administration’s budget reduction and consolidation proposals for education.