Education Budget

At Ed Money Watch, we discuss and analyze major issues affecting education funding. In our Friday News Roundup, we try to highlight interesting stories that might otherwise get overlooked. These stories emphasize how federal and state policy changes can affect local schools and districts.

Arizona Schools Receive Federal Stimulus Funds

Pennsylvania Education Secretary, Local Officials Push for Proper Use of Stimulus Funds

Teachers in Arizona Recalled After April Layoffs

California Legislative Committee Rejects Cal Grant Cuts

Data-Driven Schools See Improvements

The U.S. House of Representatives has taken another step in the annual process to determine fiscal year 2010 funding levels for most federal education programs. Fiscal year 2010 begins this October 1^st. This week, the House Appropriations Committee released the 302(b) suballocations to each of its subcommittees so that they may begin drafting fiscal year 2010 appropriations bills. While this development means little for federal education programs, it is the second step in a long process of narrowing funding decisions down to specific education programs.

Back in April, Congress adopted a budget resolution that set total fiscal year 2010 appropriations funding across all federal programs at $1.082 trillion, up $70 billion from the current fiscal year. The limit is called a 302(a) allocation after the relevant section of federal budget law. But this spending limit does not include any spending limits or recommendations for individual agencies or programs. It is only an aggregate limit on all federal discretionary spending. Individual funding levels for specific programs, including education programs, are determined by the 12 subcommittees of the Appropriations Committees in draft legislation that is voted on in the House and Senate.

It is no secret that California is in a heap of budget trouble for fiscal years 2009 and 2010, let alone the years after that. Thus far, California has taken its fiscal woes seriously with respect to federal education funding. It submitted and won approval for its State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) application in the very first round to ensure a quick flow of federal economic stimulus dollars. But a $2.0 billion dollar accounting mistake has led the state to submit a revision to its application that could enable Governor Schwarzenegger to cut education funding further.

Essentially, the California Department of Finance claims that it overestimated the state's maintenance of effort (MOE) baseline funding (based on the state's fiscal year 2006 spending levels) by $2.0 billion due to complications with "settle up" funds owed to school districts. The MOE determines the minimum amount of funding a state must provide to both K-12 and higher education in 2009 and 2010, enabling states to use SFSF dollars to fill in resulting budget gaps. This oversight allows the state significant flexibility in its state contributions for education funding in 2009 and 2010.

At Ed Money Watch, we discuss and analyze major issues affecting education funding. In our Friday News Roundup, we try to highlight interesting stories that might otherwise get overlooked. These stories emphasize how federal and state policy changes can affect local schools and districts.

$100 Million in Stimulus Funds at Risk in Tennessee

South Carolina Supreme Court Orders Governor to Apply for Stimulus Funds

Kentucky Educators Will Be Spared Major Cuts

Stimulus Funds are Slow to Reach Pennsylvania Schools

The Department of Education recently approved the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) applications of four more states - Iowa, Maryland, Kansas and Michigan - and Puerto Rico. These states join the 21 that have already begun to receive funds. As of May 29th, nearly $3.4 billion in SFSF monies have been disbursed to states. (Previous posts analyzing the applications of the first 21 states can be found here and here and here.)

These four additional states and one territory make up another $3.3 billion in Education Stabilization funds and $735 million in Government Services funds. Relative to most other states with approved applications, these states are expected to face relatively low 2009 budget deficits as a percent of total state spending. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, Michigan is expected to face the largest budget deficit- 6.5 percent - while Iowa will experience the smallest - 2.1 percent. Budget deficit information on Puerto Rico is not available.

We've been hearing the last few weeks about growing opposition to the administration's proposals to set aside $500 million in Title I funds to provide incentive grants to school districts that use new Title I funds they received under the stimulus to invest in pre-k. We're not surprised. When the stimulus bill was moving through Congress, the administration sought to set aside 15 percent of Title I funds in the stimulus for pre-k programs, but that proposal encountered opposition from school boards and the school administrators' association, who succeeded in getting that proposal removed from the final legislation. 

The administration's current proposal, which provides an incentive rather than an absolute set-aside, is a kinder, gentler version of that effort, but established education groups still aren't that crazy about it, in part because it transfers funds from Title I grants to LEAs to use for this purpose. In addition, groups that represent community-based pre-k and child care providers are up in arms about the proposal, because they fear that if school districts increase their pre-k spending, it will create competition that will hurt existing community-based providers.

On May 7 the Office of Management and Budget released the President’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2010. As Early Ed Watch reported at the time, that budget includes funding for several new early education programs, including Title I Early Childhood Grants, Early Learning Challenge Fund, Early Literacy Grants, and Home Visitation. Previous installments have considered Title I Early Childhood Grants, the Early Learning Challenge Fund, and Early Literacy Grants. Our final installment zeros in on Home Visitation.

Rewarding excellent teachers and swiftly removing bad ones is a relatively new concept in public education. Current labor union contracts and teacher salary schedules typically prevent differentiated compensation based on anything beyond years of experience and academic credentials. And the concept of "tenure" or "permanent status" for teachers makes quick removal nearly impossible. But a recent report by The New Teacher Project (TNTP), The Widget Effect, hopes to change that by encouraging states and school districts to dramatically improve teacher evaluations and link them to teacher pay, increased responsibilities, and dismissal.

The Widget Effect refers to how teachers are currently treated like identical inputs into education, rather than individuals with particular strengths, weaknesses, and skills. The authors claim this is due to the broken teacher evaluation system currently in place in most school districts. Teacher evaluations are infrequent and lack rigor. Principals often do not receive evaluation procedure training and rarely provide guidance and feedback to struggling teachers.

On May 7 the Office of Management and Budget released the President’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2010. As Early Ed Watch reported at the time, that budget includes funding for several new early education programs, including Title I Early Childhood Grants, Early Learning Challenge Fund, Early Literacy Grants, and Home Visitation. Previous installments have considered Title I Early Childhood Grants and the Early Learning Challenge Fund. Today we turn our attention to Early Literacy Grants.

At Ed Money Watch, we discuss and analyze major issues affecting education funding. In our Friday News Roundup, we try to highlight interesting stories that might otherwise get overlooked. These stories emphasize how federal and state policy changes can affect local schools and districts.

North Carolina May Drop Some Standardized Tests

Some States May Base College Funding on Graduation Rates

Governor Schwarzenegger Threatens to Cut Need-Based Aid

National Center for Education Statistics Releases The Condition of Education