FY06 Conference Report

The House and Senate continue to lumber through the appropriations process with an education funding bill that falls far short of students' needs. A conference agreement between the House and Senate, HR 3010 -- the Labor, Health, and Human Services Education and Related Agencies Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2006, passed in mid-December. Next steps are expected to make matters worse -- Congress intends to administer a 1 percent across-the-board cut to the bill that would include all education programs.

The following are included in the conference report (not including the expected 1 percent across-the-board cut):

• Total education funding would be cut for the first time in a decade.
• Less funding is allocated for education programs than in either the House or Senate bills upon which the conference agreement is based.
• NCLB programs are cut by $779 million, bringing funding below the 2003 levels despite unprecedented cost increases to states.
• The federal share of IDEA falls to from 18.6 to 18 percent. The federal government promised to pay 40 percent of these costs.
• Education technology funding is cut drastically from $496 million to $275 million.
• All other programs receive no increase, many are cut, and some are eliminated.
• A $100 million merit pay plan (Teacher Incentive Fund) is included, funded with scarce resources that should have gone to proven, successful programs.

Questions about this data can be directed to Joe Falzon (202.822.7405, jfalzon@nea.org) in NEA Government Relations.

(All of the files below are in PDF Format.
Use Acrobat Reader version 4.0 or higher to view these charts.)

U.S. Senate Education Funding for FY06

The U.S. Senate passed its fiscal year 2006 education appropriations bill (H.R. 3010) on November 1, 2005. The bill increases education spending by only 0.3 percent. This is the smallest increase in education spending in over a decade. The bill ignores the increasing cost to states to implement the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), whose programs were cut by $750 million or 3.1 percent, bringing total NCLB funding below the level from FY03.

Overall, the Senate bill eliminates six NCLB programs including Even Start family literacy, comprehensive school reform, dropout prevention, and smaller learning communities; cuts education technology by 14 percent; and freezes Teacher Quality state grants at their prior year level, thus cutting support for more than 56,000 teachers.

In addition, the funding provided for IDEA special education reduces the federal share from 18.6 percent to 18.0 percent. The IDEA law was recently reauthorized, and Congress promised to fund 40 percent of the cost. State and local funds are required to make up the difference. It also freezes the Pell Grant maximum award at $4,050 for the fourth straight year.

The bill does not fund the President's proposed high school testing program, nor does it include funds proposed by the President ($500 million) and included in the House bill ($100 million) for merit pay through a new program, the Teacher Incentive Fund.

The bill now moves to a conference committee to work out differences with the House bill.

The following data, organized by state/congressional district, compares the funding in the FY06 Senate education appropriations bill for 15 key education programs with the levels authorized (maximum allowable funding) for each program. Also included are the numbers of unserved children under key programs by state and congressional district.

Questions about this data can be directed to Joe Falzon (202.822.7405, jfalzon@nea.org) in NEA Government Relations.

(All of the files below are in PDF Format.
Use Acrobat Reader version 4.0 or higher to view these charts.)

President's FY06 Budget

State/Congressional District | Program

The President's proposed FY06 education budget, released on February 7, 2005, proposed the first cut in education funding in a decade. The budget would reduce overall education funding by $529 million (-0.9 percent).

It proposed to eliminate 48 education programs, including Even Start family literacy, comprehensive school reform, education technology state grants, gifted and talented education, dropout prevention, parental information resource centers, safe and drug-free schools state grants, vocational education, GEAR-UP, and Upward Bound.

Funding for No Child Left Behind (NCLB) programs would receive a small increase of $316 million (+1.3 percent), but most of that increase would be to pay for the proposed two additional years of testing in high schools.

The budget also proposed a new $500 million Teacher Incentive Fund program focused on merit pay and $50 million to expand funding for private school vouchers.

The following data, organized by state/congressional district and program, compares the funding in the President's proposed FY06 education budget for 15 key education programs with the levels authorized (maximum allowable funding) for each program. Also included are the numbers of unserved children under key programs by state and congressional district.

(All of the files below are in PDF Format.
Use Acrobat Reader version 4.0 or higher to view these charts.)

U.S. House of Representatives Passes Education Funding for FY06

The U.S. House of Representatives on June 24, 2005 passed a fiscal year 2006 education appropriations bill (H.R. 3010) that increases education spending by only 0.2 percent. This is the smallest increase in education spending in over a decade. The bill ignores the increasing cost to states to implement the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), whose programs were cut by $802 million or 3.3 percent, bringing total NCLB funding below the level from FY03.

Overall, the House bill eliminates 20 NCLB programs and cuts several others. For example, it eliminates programs for foreign language instruction, gifted and talented education, and arts education; cuts education technology by 40 percent; and freezes Teacher Quality state grants at their prior year level, thus cutting support for more than 56,000 teachers.

In addition, the funding provided for IDEA special education reduces the federal share from 18.6 percent to 18.1 percent. The IDEA law was recently reauthorized, and Congress promised to fund 40 percent of the cost. State and local funds are required to make up the difference.

While the bill does not fund the President's proposed high school testing program, it does provide $100 million for merit pay through a new program, the Teacher Incentive Fund.

The following data, organized by state and congressional district , compares the funding in the House education appropriations bill for FY06 for 15 key education programs with the levels authorized (maximum allowable funding) for each program. Also included are the numbers of unserved children under key programs by state and congressional district.

Questions about this data can be directed to Joe Falzon (202.822.7405, jfalzon@nea.org) in NEA Government Relations.

(All of the files below are in PDF Format.
Use Acrobat Reader version 4.0 or higher to view these charts.)