Spending Bill Gives Education Slight Hike

The federal omnibus spending bill signed by President Barack Obama on Dec. 16 will provide $63.7 billion to the U.S. Department of Education for fiscal 2010, a 1.7 percent increase over fiscal year 2009. But that figure doesn’t include up to $100 billion in education aid over two years made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the economic-stimulus law approved last February. Among the highlights of the department’s appropriations for the budget year that began Oct. 1:

Title I Grants
to districts to help cover the cost of educating disadvantaged students were flat-funded, excluding a major boost in the stimulus law.

Fiscal year 2009: $14.5 billion
Fiscal year 2010: $14.5 billion
President’s request: $13 billion
Stimulus: $10 billion
Percent change from 2009 to 2010: 0%

Title I School Improvement Grants,
which help states turn around schools that are struggling to meet the goals of the Elementary and Secondary Education act, were identified for a major boost in the president’s budget, but were ultimately level-funded.

Fiscal year 2009: $545 million
Fiscal year 2010: $545 million
President’s request: $1.5 billion
Stimulus: $3 billion
Percent change from 2009 to 2010: 0%

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
state grants to help cover the cost of educating students in special education were level-funded, although the program got a major boost in the stimulus.

Fiscal year 2009: $11.5 billion
Fiscal year 2010: $11.5 billion
President’s request: $11.5 billion
Stimulus: $11.3 billion
Percent change from 2009 to 2010: 0%

Character Education
was proposed for elimination in the president’s budget. the Senate appropriations committee restored the funding in its bill. but the program was ultimately zeroed out.

Fiscal year 2009: $11.9 million
Fiscal year 2010: $0
President’s request: $0
Stimulus: $0
Percent change from 2009 to 2010: -100%

Teacher Incentive Fund,
which gives grants to districts to create pay-for-performance programs, was the administration’s top education priority. it received a major spending hike, despite a tight year.

Fiscal year 2009: $97.2 million
Fiscal year 2010: $400 million
President’s request: $487.2 million
Stimulus: $200 million
Percent change from 2009 to 2010: +311.2%

21st Century Community Learning Centers
were singled out by then-candidate obama Barack as worthy of increased funding, so advocates for after-school programs financed under this initiative were disappointed by a proposal for level funding. the centers ultimately got a slight boost in the final spending bill.

Fiscal year 2009: $1.13 billion
Fiscal year 2010: $1.16 billion
President’s request: $1.13 billion
Stimulus: $0
Percent change from 2009 to 2010: 3.1%

High School Initiative
is a new program to bolster innovative strategies for increasing graduation rates, especially in schools with acute dropout problems.

Fiscal year 2009: *
Fiscal year 2010: $50 million
President’s request: $50 million
Stimulus: *
Percent change from 2009 to 2010: *

Promise Neighborhoods
is a new program that will provide grants to community-based organizations to develop efforts to help children deemed at risk succeed in school. Such supports could include prekindergarten, after-school programs, and college planning.

Fiscal year 2009: *
Fiscal year 2010: $10 million
President’s request: $10 million
Stimulus: *
Percent change from 2009 to 2010: *

Striving Readers,
traditionally an adolescent-literacy program, was transformed into a comprehensive k-12 literacy program and given a big increase.

Fiscal year 2009: $35 million
Fiscal year 2010: $250 million
President’s request: $370 million
Stimulus: $0
Percent change from 2009 to 2010: 606.8%

Charter School Grants,
which Mr. obama had pledged during the 2008 campaign to increase, received a significant boost in a tight budget year.

Fiscal year 2009: $216 million
Fiscal year 2010: $256 million
President’s request: $268 million
Stimulus: $0
Percent change from 2009 to 2010: 18.5%

* New program created in fiscal 2010 spending bill.

Source: U.S. Department of Education