lae.org Legislative

Fact vs. Fiction on ESEA/NCLB

The Bush Administration and Funding for the ESEA, a/k/a "No Child Left Behind"

CLAIM: "The '04 request by the administration—that's me—(laughter)—is $53.1 billion for the Elementary and Secondary School Act, which, as you know, is where the majority of federal money comes from." (Speech by President Bush, Hyde Park Elementary Jacksonville, Florida, 9/9/03)

TRUTH: Actually, the $53.1 billion referred to is the total budget for the U.S. Department of Education, which includes not only ESEA but also higher education, vocational and adult education and special education. The President's ESEA request is for $22.6 billion—a $1.2 billion cut from last year.

CLAIM: "That's a significant increase since I became the president of the United States" (Speech by President Bush, Hyde Park Elementary Jacksonville, Florida, 9/9/03)

TRUTH: Since President Bush took office, the Congress has appropriated $10.7 billion more for the Department of Education than proposed by President Bush. The president in his FY 03 budget proposed only a 0.7% increase for education spending and his FY 04 budget proposes only a 0.05% overall increase. The president is claiming credit for funds he never proposed and indeed opposed throughout much of the Congressional budget and appropriations process

CLAIM: "The Title I portion of that title in the appropriations bill is $12.3 billion. That's up 41 percent since I became president of the United States. We're putting money into the system." (Speech by President Bush, Hyde Park Elementary Jacksonville, Florida, 9/9/03)

TRUTH: The president's FY 04 budget request for Title I is $6.15 billion short of the $18.5 billion promised in NCLB. That leaves almost 6 million children behind, when Title I funding is only sufficient to fully serve 40 percent of eligible low-income children. Over the last three years Congress has appropriated $1.6 billion more for Title I than requested by the president.

CLAIM: "And overall federal spending for elementary and secondary education is higher than ever before. My budget for next year boosts education funding to $53.1 billion, an increase of nearly $11 billion since I took office."

TRUTH: The president's FY 04 budget proposes to cut ESEA/NCLB funding by $1.2 billion below current funding for FY 03. Last year, his FY 03 budget also proposed to cut ESEA/NCLB funding by $90 million. If Congress had accepted President Bush's budgets for FY 02 through FY 04, ESEA/NCLB funding would have been $6.6 billion less than it actually received.

CLAIM: "The budget for next year boosts funding for elementary and secondary education to $53.1 billion. That's a 26-percent increase since I took office. In other words, we understand that resources need to flow to help solve the problem." (Speech by President Bush at an elementary school in Tennessee, 9/8/03)

TRUTH: The president's FY 04 budget falls $9.4 billion short of the overall amounts promised in ESEA/NCLB. In his three budgets, the cumulative shortfall is $23.8 billion!

CLAIM: "You see, if you measure and then don't provide extra help, the measurement system is empty." (Speech by President Bush at an elementary school in Tennessee, 9/8/03)

TRUTH: NCLB established a $500 million program of school improvement (Sec. 1003(g)), to provide additional assistance to schools that failed to meet federal academic achievement standards. The point of NCLB should be to provide "extra help" to low-performing schools to implement programs to improve student achievement. Almost all of the changes that such a school would likely make—a high-quality after school program, a new curriculum and purchasing new textbooks and curriculum materials, enhancing professional development for teachers, hiring qualified teachers to reduce class size—all cost money. Unfortunately, the president has never proposed funding for the school improvement program. The result: measuring, labeling and punishing of schools, with no real financial help.

CLAIM: "The main reservations we've heard in the year since we passed the reform have come from some adults, not the children, who say the testing requirement is an unfunded mandate on the states. Well, that's not true. We put up $387 million to provide for testing, to pay for the testing in this year's budget." (Remarks by the President on the first anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act, the White House, 1/8/03)

TRUTH: The General Accounting Office found that states are likely to spend $3.9 billion on testing required under NCLB and may spend as much as $5.3 billion. Under NCLB, the cumulative spending is likely to be only $2.34 billion. (Source: Title I: Characteristics of Tests Will Influence Expenses; Information Sharing May Help States Realize Efficiencies. Available online at GAO-03-389. May 8, 2003)

CLAIM: "Teachers are indispensable. We ask a lot from them, and teachers are right to expect a lot from us." (Remarks by the President at the National Teacher of the Year Award, the Rose Garden of the White House, 4/24/02)

TRUTH: The President's FY 04 budget cuts funding for critical NCLB teacher training programs, including a cut of $81 million in Teacher Quality State Grants, $88 million in Math-Science Partnerships, elimination of $15 million in funding for Advanced Credentialing and elimination of $63 million in funding for Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers To Use Technology.

For more facts on ESEA/NCLB funding, visit: www.nea.org/greatschools/
or contact Joel Packer, ESEA Policy at 202-822-7329 or Jpacker@nea.orgJanuary 2004 — Great Public Schools for Every Child