WHAT: The Bush Administration released its FY 2007 budget request today, February 6, 2006. The $2.7 trillion budget proposes to ELIMINATE funding for the Perkins program, along with a number of other education programs, to fund a new high school reform proposal and the President’s new American Competitiveness Initiative.
According to the Office of Management and Budget, the high school initiative, “creates a new, flexible $1.5 billion grant program to help States implement tests in language arts and math in high schools and to support a wide range of effective interventions. In exchange for a commitment to improve academic achievement and graduation rates for secondary school students, States will receive the flexibility to implement intervention strategies most effective in serving the needs of their at-risk high school students.” This proposal appears to be very similar to the high school reform initiative proposed by the President in last year’s budget request – and provides no dedicated resources to career and technical education. The American Competitiveness Initiative would provide $412 million to education programs strengthening math and science education toward the goal of “improving the Nation’s long-term economic competitiveness.”
While policymakers and education advocates, including ACTE, have long called for increased focus on high schools and education to meet the needs of the 21st century economy, (see ACTE’s “Reinventing the American High School for the 21st Century”) these goals cannot be achieved by eliminating programs such as Perkins that are already helping students succeed.
The Bush Administration called for 25 percent cuts to the Perkins in FY 2004 and FY 2005, and proposed to completely eliminate Perkins funding in FY 2006. Congress wisely rejected these cuts in the past. This year however, the Congressional budget picture is tighter than ever, with deficits continuing to rise. The Administration proposes to cut the overall education budget by almost 3%, with a total of 42 “poor-performing or low-priority” education programs targeted for elimination. The Administration uses the PART analysis, a generic review that does not accurately depict the performance of a program at the local level, as justification for many of the program eliminations (More information about the PART report can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/about.html). Other targets of additional budget cutting from the Administration include approximately 100 other domestic (non homeland security, non-defense) discretionary programs. Given this, ACTE is concerned that, despite Congressional support for Perkins in the past, few discretionary programs will be safe from cuts in FY 2007.
The President’s budget request represents the start of the annual budget and appropriations process. Congress makes the bulk of the funding decisions for federal government, and Members of Congress need to hear from the career and technical education community about the importance and success of CTE programs.
ACTION NEEDED: Contact your Members of Congress in the House and Senate by phone, fax, or e-mail and:
- Let Members of Congress know that while you support increased emphasis on high school improvement and economic competitiveness, it should not occur at the expense of other programs that are already successfully improving high schools and preparing students for the 21st century economy, such as the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act.
- Ask them to oppose the President’s proposal to eliminate Perkins funds, and instead to increase Perkins funds to $1.675 billion to meet the critical education needs of the 21st century economy.
- Explain that Perkins funds are used for important education and job training programs in a variety of settings, including community and technical colleges. Eliminating Perkins funding and funneling it toward a general high school program not only hurts existing high school CTE programs, but would harm these postsecondary programs as well.
- Explain that Perkins is working well in your community, and that CTE makes positive investments in America’s future by providing relevant learning experiences for students, effective and proven links to skills-building and enhanced academic opportunities and improved employment outcomes; that it reduces dropout rates; and that employers in your local area continue to need well-trained workers with good skills to compete in the 21st century economy.
Additional talking points and more details will be available on ACTE’s website at www.acteonline.org/policy/legislative_issues/funding.cfm. To find contact information for Members of Congress and a sample letter, please visit ACTE’s Legislative Action Center at http://capwiz.com/acte/home/.
We appreciate your efforts! For more information, contact the Association for Career and Technical Education's Public Policy Department, 1410 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22315, 1-800-826-9972, www.acteonline.org.
