Yesterday it was Even Start. Earlier this morning it was gifted education.
Now the White House has announced a few more education programs that it would like to see Congress scrap in the fiscal year 2010 budget.
The list includes: Civic Education, which received about $33 million in fiscal year 2009. That program pays for the We the People program, which, ironically, got a lot of kids I talked to in Indiana interested in volunteering for President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
The budget also proposes getting rid of the $2 million Close-Up fellowships, which provide grants for students to visit Washington, and the $2 million Academies for History and Civics, which provide intensive workshops for teachers and students in those subjects.
Also on the hit list:
-Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities State Grants: a $295 million program that the administration doesn’t think is well designed. Instead, officials want to hike funding for the Safe and Drug free schools national program, which they think is more effective
- Foundations for Learning, a $1 million program aimed at providing mental health service to at-risk kids. Apparently, it’s just too small to make much of an impact
- The National Institute for Literacy, a $6 million program that promotes adult literacy. The White House thinks that should be the job of the Office of Vocational and Adult Education
- The Ready to Teach program, an $11 million program which doles out grants to telecommunications entities to develop educational video programming. Apparently, the administration thinks that eligibility criteria is too limiting. Instead, the administration is proposing a brand new $5 million program called Digital Professional Development, which will make funds available a wider range of folks. No word yet on just who though.
- Student Mentoring Program, $47 million. The administration thinks this duplicates the work of other programs.
- Character Education, a $12 million that apparently doesn’t have much of an effect student outcomes
And in addition to getting rid of that Paris representative, the administration wants to eliminate the Education Secretary’s Regional Representatives, which help with outreach and program implementation. That will save $2 million.
For more reductions and eliminations, check out the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Web site.