President to Release FY09 Budget on Monday (2/1/2008)

Next Monday, the President will release his proposed fiscal year 2009 budget (FY09) and the United States Department of Education (ED) will host its own FY09 unveiling event later in the afternoon. Given the President’s new found focus on fiscal discipline, most expect that the President will either keep funding for ED flat from FY08 or reduce it slightly. The odds now favor nearly flat funding because ED may have inadvertently released FY09 state program allocations. An alert staff member of the Center for Education Funding discovered a hidden column in an ED spreadsheet. Whether it is accurate will be known on Monday. Some of the highlights (which are not confirmed) include:

• ESEA Title I grants to LEAS may increase from $13.8 billion in FY08 to $14.3 billion in FY09;
• School Improvement Grants remains the same at $492 million;
• Reading First State grants are resorted to FY07 levels, $1 billion;
• Special education grants may increase from $10.9 billion to $11.2 billion;
• Title II Teacher quality grants may decrease from $2.9 billion to $2.8 billion; and
• Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities may be cut to $100 million from $294 million.

Unfortunately, it also appears that the effort to eliminate Career and Technical Education funding is back. According to the unconfirmed spreadsheet, the programs proposed for elimination include: Career and Technical Education, Tech-Prep Education, Educational Technology, and Even Start. We will report on the President’s proposed FY09 budget as soon as the President releases it on Monday.

Author: DAD