For the next four years, the Bush administration will continue some of the policies implemented during its first term and increase funding national issues such as education.
Congress passed the “No Child Left Behind” Act in 2001. To ensure that, indeed, no child is left behind, the Act is designed to close achievement gaps between students from all intellectual and income backgrounds.
According to “10 Facts About K-12 Education Funding,” under the president’s proposed 2005 budget, federal funding for economically disadvantaged students and for students with disabilities will increase $9.3 billion for the fiscal year 2005 from the original 2001 budget.
Kathleen Branch, the federal networks advocate for the National School Boards Association, said Congress increased funding in 2004 for kindergarten through 12th grade by roughly 5 percent, and Title I increased 5.6 percent for special education programs. Altogether, the government increased funding for special education to almost 20 percent in 2004.
But these increases are not receiving a passing grade from many educational groups around the country.
Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1975, which included a commitment to increase federal reimbursement for public school programs’ expenses by 40 percent. In the 29 years since the establishment of the Act, Congress never has budgeted for the 40 percent increase.
Some say this effort is not enough to combat the lack of funding in public schools.
For the Baton Rouge school system, which is considered an urban area, there is a great divide between the public school system and private and parochial schools, said Noel Hammatt, an East Baton Rouge Parish School Board member and University instructor in the College of Education.
Hammatt said public schools in East Baton Rouge Parish have 12 to 14 percent of their student body with special needs, on average, while parochial and private schools have 1 percent of these students.
“There are tremendous costs involved,” Hammatt said. “[The underfunding] is especially troubling to urban public school districts because private and parochial schools tend not to take kids with special needs.”
The unpaid cost of students in the public schools’ special education programs has forced some school districts to take money out of the regular education program, Hammatt said.
“The No Child Left Behind” Act has put more money into the educational system than ever; however, it is putting a small fraction of what they promised,” said Annie Gassen, an education junior minoring in special education who works with special education students in Ascension Parish.
Hammatt said it makes sense from educational and societal viewpoints to help the families and students educate children with special needs.
Hammatt said the inability to fund these programs hinders students from attaining the “No Child Left Behind” Act’s standard requiring all students, including students with special needs, to pass achievement tests such as the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program taken in the fourth grade.
Hammatt said a large number of schools are not showing growth in improving scores with urban public school suffering most.
Hammatt said groups around the country are organizing to push the Department of Education to recognize these statistical problems. National movements are urging recognition in what the interest should be — not the growth of an imaginary number, but each state showing growth necessary for students’ individual advancement, Hammatt said.
“Ultimately, education is about the individual, not about a number,” Hammatt said.