Education Week: Key Democrats Poke at Education Budget Plan - The Diigo Meta page

• 08 Jun 09
  

  Anne Bubnic

  Two key Democrats in Congress have expressed skepticism about the Obama administration's proposal to shift $1 billion out of Title I grants for districts into the separate Title I school improvement program in the fiscal 2010 federal budget. In its fiscal 2010 budget proposal, the administration justified the change by pointing to a $10 billion increase that the Title I grant program for districts received in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus measure that passed in February and that includes up to $100 billion for education,

  ARRA_education stimulus Title I

  • For this year and next year, things are fine,” he told the education secretary at the June 3 hearing. “You can say, well, this is OK because we have all this money in the [stimulus program]. But the problem with that is, you cut the base. If you cut the base this year, you have to make all that up” in fiscal 2011.

  • Another Obama administration proposal appeared to be a tough sell with some congressional Democrats: the massive increase proposed for the Teacher Incentive Fund, or TIF,which awards grants for pay-for-performance programs. ("Obama Budget Choices Scrutinized," May 20, 2009.)

     

    The president is seeking to boost funding for TIF to $487.3 million in fiscal 2010, up from $97 million in the current budget year, which ends Sept. 30. That major hike would come on top of $200 million for TIF in the stimulus law.

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