Obama to promote more education spending in State of the Union speech

[TomCADem]

Source: Washington Post

President Obama will propose a major increase in funding for elementary and secondary education for the coming year in Wednesday's State of the Union address, one of the few areas that would grow in an otherwise austere federal budget, officials said.

The proposal to raise federal education spending by as much as $4 billion in the next fiscal year was described by administration officials Tuesday night as the start of an effort to revamp the No Child Left Behind law enacted under President George W. Bush. Obama will highlight his school reform agenda Wednesday in the address.

The funding would include a $1.35 billion increase in Obama's "Race to the Top" competitive grants for school reform. It would also set aside $1 billion to finance an overhaul of No Child Left Behind, according to aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the budget proposal before its release next week.

Administration officials said they could not provide a direct comparison to current elementary and secondary education spending levels for No Child Left Behind, but they said federal education spending would rise overall by 6.2 percent.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012604586.html?hpid=topnews

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I think this may be too nuanced. Most folks only understand things in black and white terms. It is inconceivable that a government might cut or freeze spending in some areas, but expand it in others.

[HeresyLives]

1. 'Reallocation' n/t

[pattmarty]

2. "Race to the top" means more charter schools, more privatization..............

..........Who the fuck wants that? I am going to watch tonight to see any "change", but I am not realistically expecting any. It's been a year and we now know how he "operates". I'll tell ya something else, the Republicans will win big in the midterms (although I don't think they will gain control of the house) and this is the best we gonna get. Woo hoo, I voted for change and all I got was 200 really nice speeches covering up the "same old shit". Disappointed, you bet and I am voting Green in the next election.

[bamacrat]

3. But I thought education was a target of the "spending freeze"?

Imagine if we took 1 or 2% of the defense budget and put it toward public education. Wonder how promising the future would be?

[enlightenment]

5. Here are the proposed education terminations.

The entire listing of terminations and reductions are here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2010/assets/trs.pdf

TERMINATION: CIVIC EDUCATION, CLOSE-UP FELLOWSHIPS, AND ACADEMIES FOR AMERICAN HISTORY AND CIVICS (3 TERMINATIONS)
Department of Education
The Administration proposes to eliminate three programs that support activities related to civic education and to reallocate the funding into a new competitive grant program that is designed to more effectively meet the goals of the three programs.

Civic Education. Provides several non-competitive grants to organizations that promote civic responsibility through teacher training and instructional materials. ($33m last year)
Close-Up Fellowships. Provides a non-competitive grant to the Close-Up Foundation to provide fellowships to students and their teachers to finance their participation in one-week Washington, D.C. seminar programs on American government. ($2m last year)
Academies for American History and Civics. Supports intensive workshops for teachers and students in the areas of history and civics. ($2m last year)

TERMINATION: CHARACTER EDUCATION PROGRAM
The Administration proposes to eliminate the Character Education program because its restricted scope limits its impact and efficiency. Its goals can be more effectively met by the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC) National Programs, which is receiving an additional $111 million in the Budget. ($12m last year)

TERMINATION: ENTITLEMENTS FOR FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES UNDER THE FEDERAL FAMILY EDUCATION LOAN PROGRAM
The Administration proposes to eliminate unnecessary subsidies to lenders that make loans to students. The Department of Education will increase its servicing capacity and maintain the current high level of customer service by using private sector contractors hired through a competitive bidding process. This proposal will save more than $4 billion annually that will be used to provide Pell Grants to students.

TERMINATION: EVEN START
The Administration proposes to eliminate the Even Start program because three national evaluations show the program is not effective. These funds will be redirected to programs that are likely to be more effective at improving early childhood education. ($66m last year)

TERMINATION: FOUNDATIONS FOR LEARNING
The Administration proposes to eliminate the Foundations for Learning program because it is too small to have a national impact and supports such a broad range of activities that the Department cannot reasonably evaluate grantee performance. The Budget proposes to reallocate this funding to the larger and more comprehensive Mental Health Integration program. ($1m last year)

TERMINATION: HARRY S. TRUMAN SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION
The Administration's 2010 Budget does not request any funding for the Truman Foundation because the existing endowment can support the statutory requirements without appropriated funds, and the Foundation should use its existing authorities to raise any additional funds through private donations. ($1m last year)

TERMINATION: JAVITS GIFTED AND TALENTED EDUCATION PROGRAM
The Administration proposes to eliminate the Javits Gifted and Talented Education program because the program is not structured to assess program effectiveness and it has not identified successful strategies that could have broad national impact. ($7m last year)

TERMINATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
The Administration proposes to eliminate the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL). NIFL has had minimal success in fulfilling its mission to coordinate literacy services across the Federal Government. Efforts to provide national literacy leadership could be coordinated more efficiently by the Office of Vocational and Adult Education within the Department of Education. ($6m last year)

TERMINATION: READY TO TEACH
The Administration proposes to eliminate the Ready to Teach (RTT) program because it contains design flaws that reflect outdated ideas on the content and delivery of teacher professional development. In lieu of this program, the Administration supports teacher professional development through other Department programs and activities, including a new grant competition designed to more effectively meet the goals of the RTT program. ($11m last year)

TERMINATION: SAFE AND DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES STATE GRANTS
The Administration proposes to eliminate the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC) State Grants program because both independent and Department of Education analyses have shown that the program is poorly designed. The Administration is increasing funding for the SDFSC National Programs, which is better structured to address the same goals as the State Grants program. ($295m last year)

TERMINATION: STUDENT MENTORING PROGRAM
The Administration proposes to eliminate funding for the Student Mentoring program, which a recent Department of Education impact evaluation found to be ineffective. It is also duplicative of other Federal programs. ($47m last year)

[Tim01]

4. NOT FIXING THE PROBLEM! nt

[saracat]

6. The charter schools will be thrilled. Arne could care less about the true public schools.