From: bernie@binghamton.edu
Date sent: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 16:15:34 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Update -- 1998 Budget (fwd)

To All: A veritable train wreck in slow motion with our money providing
the steam! Read and weep! Bernie

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 6 Feb 1997 17:39:49 -0500
From: Kirk Winters
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Update -- 1998 Budget

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ED Initiatives...
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Special Issue on the President's 1998 Budget
********************************************
February 6, 1997

TODAY, THE PRESIDENT SENT HIS 1998 BUDGET to Congress
requesting $29.1 billion in discretionary funds for the U.S.
Department of Education. This would mean $2.9 billion (11%)
more than in 1997 for "discretionary funds," which include
most elementary & secondary programs and some postsecondary
programs, but not student loans.

*Highlights* of his request for the Department are below.
The full summary & the Secretary's statement can be found
in our Online Library at:
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/Budget98/

Also, the President's 10-point plan for ensuring that
Americans have the best education in the world -- which he
announced in his State of the Union Address -- plus
materials supporting his call for challenging national
standards in reading & mathematics, are now available at:
http://www.ed.gov/inits.html

***************************************************************
Highlights from the Department of Education 1998 Budget Summary
***************************************************************

Highlights of President's 1998 budget request for the Department
include:

* $605 million for Goals 2000 State Grants, an increase of
$129 million, to help States and schools develop and
implement challenging academic standards and reform teaching
and learning in order to reach the National Education Goals.
An additional $15 million would support 42 parental
assistance and information centers.

* $400 million for School-to-Work Opportunities -- $200
million each from the Departments of Education and Labor --
to permit all 50 States to fully implement school-to-work
strategies as an integral part of their educational systems.

* $500 million for Educational Technology, up $243 million, to
help schools integrate technology into the curriculum so
that all students can become technologically literate, and
to improve the quality of instruction in core subjects.

* $100 million for Charter Schools, a $49 million increase, to
support planning and start-up costs for between 900 and
1,100 new or redesigned public schools that offer enhanced
public school choice. These State- or locally authorized
schools are created by teachers, parents, and other members
of the community and, in exchange for greater accountability
for student achievement, are exempted from many local,
State, and Federal education regulations. The
Administration's goal is to stimulate the creation of 3,000
charter schools by 2002.

* $360 million for Eisenhower Professional Development State
Grants, up $50 million, to support sustained, intensive
training to upgrade the skills of teachers and principals to
better deliver instruction in the core academic subjects,
especially in mathematics and science.

* $21 million, up $16 million, to fast-forward efforts by the
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to
develop standards and assessments and implement
certification programs in more than 30 teaching fields.
Funds also would enable more teachers to undergo the
assessment process -- an important step in identifying and
rewarding master teachers. The goal would be to certify
105,000 master teachers by the year 2006.

The Department also is seeking $167 million for Research,
Statistics, and Assessment, an increase of $30 million or 22
percent over the 1997 level for these programs. These funds
support education reform by investigating what works in teaching
and learning, gathering data on the effects of reform and the
return on investments in education, monitoring progress toward
the National Education Goals, and assessing the progress of
American students in achieving mastery over challenging subject
matter.

===================================
IMPROVING READING FOR ALL AMERICANS
===================================

The America Reads Challenge highlights reading as the most basic
and essential academic skill -- the cornerstone of educational
achievement and accomplishment. The Department's budget includes
mandatory funds for two components of this initiative: America's
Reading Corps and Parents as First Teachers.

The request provides $200 million in mandatory funding for
America's Reading Corps, which would enlist and train one million
tutors who will provide individualized and small group assistance
after school, on weekends, and during the summer for K-4 students
who are behind in reading. The Department plans to contribute
$1.4 billion for the Reading Corps over the next five years; most
of these funds would pay for reading specialists (who would train
or supervise the tutors) and materials. In addition, the
Corporation for National and Community Service would contribute
$1 billion ($200 million in 1998), primarily for tutor
recruitment.

The Department would use an additional $60 million in mandatory
funds in 1998 for the Parents as First Teachers program. This
program would support effective, proven efforts to assist parents
in helping their children become successful readers.

Success in reaching the goal of the America Reads Challenge --
ensuring that all children read well and independently by the end
of the third grade -- will require much more than after-school
tutoring. That's one reason why, for example, the 1998 request
includes significant increases to strengthen in-school reading
instruction through programs like Title I Grants to Local
Educational Agencies and Special Education Grants to States.
Both programs provide substantial resources to States and schools
that are used to improve basic skills like reading.

Parental involvement in reading to children is also a key to
reaching the America Reads Challenge. And students who speak a
language other than English need extra help learning to read
English. The budget includes increases for the following
programs that provide assistance in these areas:

* $108 million for Even Start, a $6 million increase to permit
expansion of local programs that help young children develop
the skills required for success in elementary school while
enabling their parents to gain the basic literacy skills
needed to reinforce their children's education.

* $199 million for Bilingual Education, an increase of $42.3
million or 27 percent, to help local school districts build
their capacity to operate high-quality instructional
programs for limited English proficient (LEP) students.

* $382 million for Adult Education State Grants, up $41.7
million or 12 percent, to help adult Americans improve their
literacy skills so they can succeed in their roles as
workers, citizens, and parents.

==============================================
PROVIDING EXTRA HELP FOR STUDENTS MOST IN NEED
AND MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF HIGHER ENROLLMENTS
===============================================

Elementary and secondary school enrollment reached a new high of
nearly 52 million last fall, and 3 million more students will be
added to the rolls over the next 10 years. To help States and
school districts keep up with growing enrollments while
continuing to provide extra help for the students who need it,
the Department is requesting increased funding in critical areas
of Federal education support. Highlights include the following:

* $7.5 billion for the Title I Grants to Local Educational
Agencies program, an increase of $347 million, to help low-
achieving students -- particularly those in high-poverty
schools -- meet the same challenging academic content and
performance standards expected of all children. The request
also would target a larger share of Title I resources on
communities and schools with the highest concentrations of
children from low-income families.

* $620 million for Safe and Drug-Free Schools programs, an
increase of $64 million, to help States and school districts
address the pervasive problems of student drug and alcohol
use and school violence.

* $3.2 billion for Special Education Grants to States, an
increase of $141 million, to help States cover increases in
costs attributable to serving additional children, while
maintaining the overall Federal share of the excess costs of
serving children with disabilities at 8 percent.

* $150 million for Immigrant Education, up $50 million, in
recognition of the additional costs faced by school
districts that serve large numbers of recently arrived
immigrant students. The request would help pay the costs of
educating some 875,000 recent immigrant students.

* The School Construction initiative, which would use a one-
time $5 billion mandatory appropriation to pay for up to half
the interest on school construction bonds or similar
assistance. This program is designed in part to help States
and communities address the facilities needs created by
growing enrollments.

In addition, the Department is proposing a new program of After-
School Learning Centers to help rural and inner-city public
schools stay open after school hours and serve as safe,
neighborhood learning centers where students can do their
homework and obtain tutoring and mentoring services. The 1998
request includes $50 million to support the development of
hundreds of new after-school programs focusing on activities
designed to improve student achievement and prevent juvenile
violence and substance abuse.

===============================================
MAKING COLLEGE MORE AFFORDABLE FOR ALL STUDENTS
===============================================

Since 1993, President Clinton has worked hard to strengthen
Federal programs that help students and families pay the costs of
postsecondary education. His first successful education reform
proposal created the Direct Student Loan program, which eased
loan repayment burdens through income-contingent repayment,
greatly streamlined and simplified loan delivery for students and
schools, saved taxpayers billions of dollars, and spurred changes
that have saved students and parents billions of dollars in
reduced loan fees and interest payments.

The President also helped raise the maximum Pell Grant award by
$400 or 17 percent -- from $2,300 in 1993 to $2,700 in 1997 --
while total Federal student financial aid available has grown
more than 70 percent -- from $25 billion in 1993 to $43 billion
in 1997 -- and the number of students receiving Federal student
aid climbed 1.3 million or 20 percent.

For 1998, the President is proposing a combination of budget and
tax initiatives that would significantly expand access to
postsecondary education for lower-income students while providing
new assistance to middle-class families struggling to pay for
college. The request would raise the total aid available for
postsecondary education and training from $42.8 billion in 1997
to $47.2 billion in 1998, an increase of $4.4 billion or 10
percent (not including the tax initiatives). The number of
students receiving assistance would rise to 8.1 million, an
increase of almost 450,000 students. The 1998 budget also would
promote hard work in high school and college by rewarding high
achievement. Highlights of the request include the following:

* $7.6 billion for Pell Grants, up $1.7 billion or 29 percent,
to raise the maximum award to $3,000 and provide grants to
an additional 348,000 students, in part through a proposed
change to need analysis rules. The $300 increase in the
Pell maximum award -- the largest increase in two decades --
would improve access to postsecondary education for students
from low-income families, and studies show that grant aid
increases college completion rates for such students.

* Need analysis for independent students without dependents
would be changed so that more of these students would be
eligible for student aid. The proposed expansion of the
asset protection allowance for independent students -- who
are generally defined as at least 24 years old, married, or
military veterans -- would treat these students similarly to
all other students, correcting an inequity created by the
Higher Education Amendments of 1992.

* $857 million for Work Study, an increase of $27 million,
would add 28,000 new recipients as part of the President's
commitment to increase the number of recipients to one
million by the year 2000. The President also is encouraging
schools to use Work-Study funds for students to serve as
tutors in the America Reads Challenge, in part through a
waiver of the institutional matching requirement.

* The request would save student borrowers more than $2
billion over the next five years by cutting loan fees in the
Direct Loan and Federal Family Education Loan programs.

* An additional $3.5 billion in taxpayer savings over five
years would be achieved through a restructuring and
streamlining of the guaranty agency system.

* $525 million for the TRIO programs, up $25 million, would
provide important outreach and support services to an
additional 36,662 students.

* $132 million for Presidential Honors Scholarships would
reward the academic excellence of the top 5 percent of
graduating students in every high school in the Nation by
providing a one-year, $1,000 scholarship to help cover
college costs.

* $39.3 million for Byrd Honors Scholarships, up $10.2 million
to provide four cohorts of recipients with the full $1,500
scholarship authorized by law.

* $6 million for the Advanced Placement Fee program would for
the first time supplement State efforts to subsidize and, in
some cases, pay the full cost of advanced placement tests
for low-income students, who may not be able to afford the
test fee. This program would help raise academic
expectations by encouraging low-income students to take such
tests for college credit, while also stimulating more high
schools to offer advanced placement courses.

Tax Proposals:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* The America's Hope Scholarship proposal would help make two
years of postsecondary education universally available to
all Americans by providing a tax credit of up to $1,500 to
first-year postsecondary students and to second-year
students who earn at least a B average.

* A proposed Middle Class Bill of Rights tax deduction would
allow up to a $5,000 deduction ($10,000 in 1999 and later
years) from income for payment of postsecondary tuition and
fees. The deduction would be available even to taxpayers
who do not itemize deductions.

* The proposed expanded use of Individual Retirement Accounts
would provide a strong incentive to individuals and families
to save for college by allowing penalty-free withdrawals
after 5 years if used to pay postsecondary education
expenses.

* The proposed extension of the exclusion for employer-
provided educational assistance, currently scheduled to
expire in mid-1997, through December 31, 2000. The Section
127 provision allows taxpayers to deduct up to $5,250 in
employer-provided postsecondary tuition expenses from their
incomes each year. The proposal would also reinstate and
extend through December 31, 2000 the expired exclusion for
employer-provided graduate education.

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========================================================
Kirk Winters & Peter Kickbush
U.S. Department of Education
kirk_winters@ed.gov peter_kickbush@ed.gov