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In Congress: An Opportunity to Help Kids

President Clinton's new budget proposes the largest one-year increase in aid to education ever.

A frequent visitor to America's public schools -- and we're not talking about the guy who fixes your copier -- doesn't like what he's been seeing. "I've been to schools not only with leaky roofs," President Bill Clinton recently told reporters, "but with window frames so old that if you try to power-wash the windows the glass would pop out -- and with electrical service so inadequate that if you plug a new computer into the wall, the circuit breaker cuts out."

Fortunately, when you're the nation's chief executive, you can do something about matters like this -- by proposing a budget that asks Congress to face up to the needs of America's public schools. And that's just what the President, in his budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2001, has done.

The final budget proposal of the Clinton White House, if adopted by Congress, would help fix leaky school roofsand a lot more besides.

The White House budget, notes NEA lobbyist Joel Packer, includes a $450 million increase for the administration's class size reduction program.

This boost would help school districts hire 100,000 new teachers over seven years, enough new hires to reduce class size in grades 1-3 to a nationwide average of 18.

Another initiative in the Clinton budget proposal would add $1 billion for "teacher quality" efforts, including everything from a recruitment program for new teachers in high-poverty districts to expansion of the $335 million Eisenhower Professional Development Program.

Pretty progressive stuff, but it's just the beginning of a proposed national spending plan for education that you'll be hearing more about in the weeks ahead.

"Overall," notes NEA's Packer, "the Clinton Administration is proposing an approximate $4.5 billion increase in Department of Education programs. That's the largest increase ever provided in one year for education initiatives."

By contrast, Packer adds, last year the President only proposed a $1.2 billion increase.

The scope of the White House's budget proposal for education is as ambitious as the pricetag.

The President, for instance, is asking Congress to create new initiatives like a mentoring program for middle school students, counseling support for elementary students, and a $120 million initiative to create smaller, safer, and better high schools -- through competitive grants to districts for innovations like schools-within-schools, career academies, and more personal student attention and academic support.

Among other groundbreaking initiatives in the Clinton budget: a $30 million program to provide professional development opportunities for early childhood educators who serve high concentrations of children living in poverty.

The Administration's proposed budget calls for added funding -- in this boom economy -- for a variety of existing education programs. Included:

• A $1 billion boost for Head Start.

• A doubling of funding, from $453 million this fiscal year to $1 billion in FY 2001, for after-school and summer school programs.

• A doubling of funding for teacher technology training, from $75 million to $150 million.

• A $100 million increase for safe/healthy school initiatives.

• Increases in college student aid, including a $200 boost in individual Pell Grants for disadvantaged students and a $10,000 tuition tax deduction.

The President is also advancing two school modernization initiatives, starting with $1.3 billion a year over the next five years in federal grants and interest-free loans for urgent renovation projects in high-needs districts.

A related initiative, already introduced in the form of House and Senate bills, would create a "tax credit bond" for school modernization and construction.

None of this, of course, will happen unless Congress goes along. As the budget process unfolds, moving toward an October 1 deadline, NEA will be pushing for "at least the funding levels the President is proposing," says lobbyist Packer, "and possibly for more -- for programs like special aid, impact aid, and vocational education."

NEA leaders and lobbyists "have already had lots of high-level meetings with the Administration to urge budget increases in priority areas," he adds, "and we'll keep talking to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to get the support kids and schools need. But we can't succeed without the help of our best lobbyists of all: NEA members."

What You Can Do

For updated background on the upcoming federal budget battle over education, check the Web for the NEA Legislative Action Center at www.nea.org/lac/funding.