Originally posted by OneWordAnswer
Budgets
[so much for the BUUUSSHH hates the poor]
Thanks oneword.
Department of Education Budget at a Glance
Mon Feb 7, 4:00 PM ET White House - AP
Agency: Department of Education (news - web sites)
Spending: $56 billion
Percentage change from 2005: -1 percent
Mandatory outlays: $7.4 billion
Total Spending: $63.4 billion
Highlights:
_ Would
increase aid to poor districts by 4.7 percent , to $13.3 billion.
_ Would end 48 programs and reduce spending on 16 others to free $4.7 billion for other priorities. A third of the federal programs Bush promised to cut in his budget are in the Education Department. All federal spending on vocational education, $1.2 billion, would be eliminated and redirected toward other high school initiatives.
_
Would spend almost $18 billion on Pell Grants to help poor students attend college, an increase of 45 percent. That money would come mainly from deep cuts in subsidies to lenders.
_
Would spend $200 million to help high school students who read below grade level. That would be an eight-fold increase in the program's current budget. _ Would create a $500 million fund to reward teachers whose students make great progress.
_ Would end $438 million in state grants for safe and drug-free schools. Related national programs would get more money, but overall funding for safe schools would drop $355 million.
The start of Bush's second-term school agenda has two big themes: expanding his No Child Left Behind law in high schools, and overhauling federal aid for college students.
But to pay for it, Bush is calling for major cuts, too, and Congress may balk. Overall education spending would drop slightly in 2006 after increasing yearly during his first term.
Bush is shifting focus from early grades to high schools, with more than $2 billion in help for struggling students, math and science partnerships and Advanced Placement tests. He would require state math and reading testing in grades nine to 11, an expansion of two years.
"We want to make sure that when children get into high school, they have an opportunity for rigorous academic courses," said Ray Simon, assistant education secretary.
At the same time, Bush would cut almost $2 billion in popular high school programs deemed "ineffective," including vocational education, Upward Bound, Talent Search and GEAR UP.
The ranking Democrat on the Senate education committee, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, called for Congress to reject the education budget. "The administration is going to find out that people believe we need to invest in our children," he said. 
