Contact: Brian Washington  (202) 822-7823

June 11, 2007

House Poised to Direct
More Funding to Education Programs

NEA Applauds Proposed Increases for 'No Child Left Behind'

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to give significantly more funding to schools with higher proportions of low-income children, and to direct more resources to students with special needs and those requiring financial assistance for higher education.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies recently approved its spending plan for fiscal year 2008. The Department of Education would receive a $4.2 billion increase. Nearly $2 billion is slated for the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush's signature education law. NCLB funding would increase by 8.4 percent and most of the money would be earmarked for Title I, which provides federal funding to help low-income students.

NEA commended lawmakers for proposing a halt to the downward trend in funding for IDEA or special education, which would get a 1.6 percent increase. The proposal would also add nearly $400 to the maximum amount for need-based higher education grants, or Pell Grants, raising the cap to $4700 annually.

The entire spending plan totals $151 billion and may go before the full House for a vote before the end of the month. Reg Weaver, the president of NEA, believes lawmakers have set a good tone for the appropriations process -- one he hopes will continue.

The following statement can be attributed to Weaver:

"This is a good start and we like where lawmakers are going," said Weaver. "These are programs that help students succeed and have access to a quality education. But our elected officials must continue to do their part to satisfy the basic right of every child to attend a great public school. Recent polls show the public agrees with NEA that changes are in order for the No Child Left Behind Act. The law needs to be fully funded, and the increases contained in this budget plan are signs of hope. Today, there is much discussion about raising public education standards, but it's impossible to have this debate in a manner that is meaningful and relevant if we're not committed to making sure our public schools have the resources they need to be successful. You can't appropriately address one without the other."

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The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators
and students preparing to become teachers.