President Bush released his budget request for FY08. Below is a summary of the request.
SUPPORTING NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND REAUTHORIZATION
The request would provide $24.5 billion to support the Administration's reauthorization proposal for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This proposal would provide additional resources at the high school level, encourage more rigorous instruction and coursework in our middle and high schools, make available more meaningful choice options to students in low-performing schools, and significantly increase the resources available to States and LEAs to support school improvement efforts, particularly through a stronger emphasis on fundamental staffing and governance changes in schools undergoing restructuring. These and other reauthorization changes are discussed in more detail in the section on Elementary and Secondary Education. Key parts of the request that support the reauthorization include:
• $13.9 billion for Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, an increase of $1.2 billion, or 9.4 percent, primarily to drive more Title I funding to high schools so that they have the resources to implement the reforms and interventions that are working to improve achievement at the elementary level.
• $500 million in first-time funding for Title I School Improvement Grants to support strong and effective State leadership in helping to turn around low-performing schools and school districts. Funds would be evenly split between building State capacity to lead LEA and school improvement efforts and additional resources for LEAs working to turn around low-performing schools.
• $411.6 million for State Assessment Grants to maintain support for strong State assessment systems and support the development and implementation of 2 years of high school assessments that would be required by the Administration's reauthorization proposal for Title I.
• $300 million to expand private school choice and tutoring options for America's students and families, including $250 million for Promise Scholarships, a new formula program to give low-income students in restructuring schools the opportunity to transfer to private schools or public schools in other districts, or to obtain intensive tutoring; and $50 million for Opportunity Scholarships, which would award competitive grants to a broad range of entities, including municipalities, non-profit organizations, and other entities, to carry out innovative programs that give students in low-performing schools the opportunity to transfer to another public or private school or obtain intensive supplemental services.
• A $365 million increase to support the American Competitiveness Initiative by strengthening the capacity of our schools to improve instruction in mathematics and science:
o $125 million for the Math Now for Elementary School Students initiative, modeled after Reading First, to implement proven practices in math instruction, including those that will be recommended by the National Math Panel, that focus on preparing K-6 students for more rigorous math courses in middle and high school.
o $125 million for a new Math Now for Middle School Students initiative, based on the principles of the Striving Readers program, to support research-based math interventions in middle schools.
o A $90 million increase for Advanced Placement to provide a new emphasis on training teachers and expanding opportunities for students, particularly in high-poverty schools, to take high-level Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses in math, science, and critical foreign languages.
o $25 million for the Adjunct Teacher Corps to create opportunities for qualified professionals from outside the K-12 educational system to teach secondary-school courses in the core academic subjects, with an emphasis on mathematics and the sciences.
• A $68.4 million increase for the Striving Readers program, funded for the first time in fiscal year 2005, to significantly expand the development and implementation of research-based interventions to improve the skills of teenage students who are reading below grade level.
• $1.0 billion for Reading First State Grants and $117.7 million for Early Reading First to maintain support for comprehensive reading instruction, grounded in scientifically based reading research, that enables all young children to read well by the end of third grade. The request for Early Reading First, which consolidates this program with the Early Childhood Educator Professional Development program, would also help strengthen partnerships between preschool providers and institutions of higher education that provide professional development to early childhood educators.
• $2.8 billion for Improving Teacher Quality State Grants to help States ensure that all teachers of core academic subjects are highly qualified and to strengthen teachers' subject-matter knowledge and teaching skills.
• $199 million for the Teacher Incentive Fund to expand support for State and local efforts to develop and implement performance-based financial incentives for teachers and principals. This program helps close the equity gap in access to the best teachers and principals by rewarding those who raise student achievement, close achievement gaps, and work in hard-to-staff schools.
Link to Department of Education budget request:
http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget08/summary/edlite-section2a.html#title1lea
