The failure of President Bush’s $2.77 trillion budget request to Congress to fully fund No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act would result in a $25 billion burden on communities that would have to be made up by increased property taxes or by drawing funds away from programs, according to the National School Boards Association. 

3.7 million students affected The President is proposing $12.7 billion for Title I grants. The recommendations would underfund the account by some $12.3 billion, affecting 3.7 million disadvantaged students.

For federal special education funding, the President is proposing a $100 million increase in grants to states. That amount still falls more than $14 billion short of the funding level promised by Congress, that is, 40 percent of the cost per special education student.  Congress had readjusted annual funding levels for IDEA in an effort to meet that target by FY 2007. However, the President’s proposed FY 2007 budget would provide $6.2 billion less than that reauthorized funding level.

Chopping block The FY07 budget request would also eliminate Education Technology Grants, which provide online courses to rural and urban students. It would eliminate $1.3 billion for Vocational Education State Grants.

Other items on the chopping block are Safe and Drug-Free Schools State Grants; Smaller Learning Communities grants, which help with class-size reduction initiatives in high schools; School Dropout Prevention; Comprehensive School Reform; and Elementary School Counseling. These programs were proposed for elimination by the President  last year, but Congress voted to include them at a reduced funding level.