Left Behind
Students get short changed in public schools
At one of his trademark elementary school photo ops earlier this year, President Bush said his administration was pumping money into America's schools like never before. "The federal government is sending checks at record amounts," he announced. In fact, Bush's 2005 budget provides the smallest increase in education funding since 1996; it also sends 38 federal education programs to the chopping block, for a total of $1.4 billion in cuts (see sampling below). Even the president's signature education initiative, the No Child Left Behind Act, falls far short of the funding Bush promised for it--one reason why legislators in at least 17 states have endorsed bills protesting the law. --Dave Gilson
PROGRAM PROPOSED CUT/
UNDERFUNDING WHAT IT DOES
NO CHILD $9.4 billion Over the past four years, Bush has
LEFT BEHIND (27 percent) allocated $30 billion less than
Congress authorized for authorized
for the law, which requires
increased testing and penalizes
schools where scores don't
improve. Programs for
disadvantaged students take the
hardest hit; the budget leaves
them underfunded by $7.2 billion.
EVEN START $247 million Eliminates program that teaches
parents and children in poor
families to read; in 2002, Bush
praised Even Start's work as
"incredibly important."
DROPOUT $5 million Eliminates program to help at-risk
PREVENTION students. Under No Child Left
Behind, schools are penalized if
students drop out.
JAVITS GIFTED AND $11 million Eliminates program for gifted
TALENTED PROGRAM students who are minorities,
disabled, or speak little English.
COMMUNITY $10 million Eliminates program that brings
TECHNOLOGY computers to places where kids
CENTERS don't have access to technology,
such as housing projects.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE $17 million Eliminates program.
ASSISTANCE
VOCATIONAL $316 million Cut 20 percent of federal funding
EDUCATION for job-training programs.
ARTS IN EDUCATION $35 million Eliminates program.
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