by Nancy O'Brien, Assist. Executive Director for Government Relations

During his campaign for the presidency, candidate George W. Bush vehemently expressed his desire to provide a quality educational opportunity to all students in our nation's schools. True to his word, one of Bush's first presidential acts was the unveiling of an ambitious education proposal. One year later, the president signed the No Child Left Behind Act, which he believes will make great strides toward fulfilling his goal of closing the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility and choice, so that "no child is left behind." This act elevated hopes that adequate support would be provided for educating children in our nation's schools. Since the bill's signing, however, this bright outlook has eroded to dreariness. Sufficient funding for this act and other education efforts, including the Perkins Act, was not included in the president's budget proposal submitted to Congress early this year. The proposal, while not binding by Congress, sets a framework for budget discussions, making significant increases for education a more difficult reach this year.

An even greater contributor to education's budget woes is the current economic situation. The lagging economy during the past year has bestowed budget imbalances on 44 states. In order to balance the approaching year's budget, it is forecasted that many states could potentially make considerable cuts to education funding, and many already have. At the same time, the congressional budget is showing only a three percent increase in education spending, which is predicted to scarcely exceed inflation projections. Any success of reform efforts outlined in the No Child Left Behind Act or other federal education programs is dependent on sufficient funding to implement them. The American public agrees that education should be a higher federal spending priority than it currently is.

A recent survey done by the Committee for Education Funding, an advocacy coalition in which ACTE participates, showed that education continues to rank very high on a list of priorities for American voters. In fact, setting aside military and homeland security, education was found to be the number one priority. An overwhelming majority of voters (79 percent) indicated that increased federal funding for education is important to them in deciding how to vote in the November elections. Many people would say that with the recent events of September 11, the war on terror and a poor economic year, it is hard to provide adequate funding for all of our federal programs. Yet when asked whether they would vote for a candidate who supports increased education spending vs. one that favors deficit reduction, the American public responded that the pro-education candidate would be favored by a margin of 60 percent to 37 percent.

If we truly feel that education spending is a high priority, we need to let both our federal and state governments know that programs like the Perkins Act and others that provide critical support to our nation's schools and postsecondary institutions need to be fully funded in order to provide all students with the educational opportunity that President Bush and many in Congress lauded as they passed the No Child Left Behind Act. As children go back to school in September, both state and federal education funding will be lacking. The American public believes this is wrong, and they believe that even if we have to take out a mortgage on the White House or the Capitol, the investment will pay off in the long run, and no child will be left behind.