Obama’s economic stimulus bill has endured substantial cuts in education while in the Senate, according to today’s New York Times, yet still provides a substantial amount of cash for public education, state universities, and child care. The grand total set aside for education in the bill, after trimming in the Senate, is estimated at $83 billion.
The original amount passed by the House was closer to $150 billion, but in the Senate negotiations that amount has been cut, primarily in the areas of new school construction and state emergency funds to be spent on schools and state universities.
According to the Times, here’s how education breaks down as the bill stands now in the Senate for the likely vote tomorrow:
• $20 billion slated for new school construction eliminated completely
• Stabilization fund for states to use shrunk from $79 billion to $39 billion
• $80 billion in emergency is up from the Dept. of Education’s present budget of $59 billion
• Title I spending was cut from the House-proposed $13 billion to about $11.4 billion
• Pell grants will get a boost, from $19 billion to near $27 billion, according to the House bill – the Senate will give a little less
I thought you’d like to see some of these numbers, to better understand what’s going on with your education money. As far as I can see, while the Senate has snipped a little here and there, the majority of the money appears to have remained intact. And it is a great deal of money.
The only thing that might appear disappointing is the complete cut for new school buildings. If your children are sitting in a falling-down school every day, this might have a great impact on your chances of getting a new building in the next few years. Are the new schools absolutely necessary? Probably not. But I know there are lots of schools out there that need help.
The Times quotes Education Secretary Arne Duncan as saying that an upcoming study estimates “almost 600,000 education jobs are at risk of state budget cuts.” Those jobs, in addition to the 3.6 million already lost, would have an enormous impact on the economy as well as on the quality of education for our children. (Dallas had already suffered from 675 teachers' jobs lost due to Hinojosa’s mistakes earlier in the year.)
I will be following the Senate vote tomorrow, if it happens, and we’ll see how education spending shakes out in the final bill.
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