House Dems' $100 bn. Edu-Stimulus Plan: Take Action for Hope

by Clay Burell · 2009-01-17 13:17:00 UTC
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sidewalk stencilHouse Democrats proposed an $825 billion economic stimulus package last week that made me rub my eyes in disbelief when I read this part: $100 billion of the total is earmarked for education spending.

Highlights:

  • That's almost twice the $59.2 billion budget for the federal Department of Education in 2008.

  • $79 billion of the $825 bn. total is for preventing cuts in state services, and most of that prevention is aimed at education.

  • $20 billion goes to school construction.

  • Title I program budgets will be doubled to $13 billion to help socio-economically disadvantaged students.

  • States would receive another $13 billion in additional funding to support the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

  • $1 billion will go to educational technology, computer and science labs, and teacher technology training.

  • $250 million in grants will be offered to states to develop longitudinal data management systems to measure individual student learning progress over the long-term.

  • Another $15 billion is earmarked for "incentive grants" to encourage states to develop longitudinal data systems, better student assessments (oh yes, yes) for English language learners and special needs students (but what about all the other students?!), and the equitable assignment of teachers across school districts.

  • $200 million will be spent on grants for the Teacher Incentive Fund, which encourages states to develop pay-for-performance plans (but I want to hear more on how they plan to keep this from devolving into increased pay for teaching to dumbed-down high-stakes tests).

Republicans "disappointed" with the bill

Ohio Rep. John Boehner - the same guy who begrudged the auto bailout for not cutting union benefits enough - says he's "disappointed" in the plan, and we can only hope the Democrat-controlled Congress can muster the votes to keep his free market ideology from doing to schools what it did to the markets. (I encourage him to keep obstructing, though, to enhance his chances for being voted out of office next time he's up for election.)

Please sign the petition to Congress and Obama to support the bill! Call your congresspeople, and invite others to do the same. The House Appropriations Committee will discuss the bill on January 21st, and a final funding vote is expected soon.

Image by Franco Folini

Clay Burell
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