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February 8, 2005
ROCKEFELLER BLASTS CUTS IN EDUCATION FUNDING
-Budget's $100 Pell Grant Increase Proposal Undermined by New Rules that Will Reduce or Eliminate Funding for Thousands of Students -
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) today denounced the education budget cuts released yesterday as part of the Administration’s FY 2006 budget. For the first time, President Bush submitted a Department of Education (DoE) budget that is less than the previous year’s funding. That budget would end 48 programs designed to improve students’ performance, including Safe and Drug Free Schools, Technology State Grants, TRIO Upward Bound, and GEAR UP.
The FY 06 budget proposes a $100 increase each year for five years in the amount of Pell Grant funding for students, less than the $200 increase called for in a bill cosponsored by Rockefeller. The administration’s Pell Grant increase also hides the fact that thousands of students in West Virginia and across the country will have their Pell Grant funding reduced or eliminated. A new formula designed by DoE will effectively eliminate or reduce the amount of Pell Grants for more than a million students.
“This education budget will hurt our students and our schools,” said Rockefeller. “Education spending isn’t just a budget number – it’s a plan for our country’s future. The proposed level of funding reflects the level of priority a president places on a program. This budget declares that education is not a priority for this administration.
“Over the last few years, we have seen lots of promises made on education, but without the funding, the promises are empty. Now, this budget continues underfunding programs, and it eliminates some key programs that West Virginia children rely on. Our children the support and resources provided to them by the Safe and Drug Free Schools and the TRIO program.
“Even where the Administration budget at first review seems to be adequate – in terms of providing more money for Pell Grants – it does not indicate that thousands of our students will no longer be eligible for Pell Grants."
The budget underfunds No Child Left Behind’s Title I funding, which provides resources for school systems with disadvantaged students, by $74.9 million in West Virginia and $9.4 billion nationally. Without this funding, 23,475 students will be affected. The administration’s budget also underfunds after school care by $10 million in West Virginia and $1.3 billion nationally. Without this money, 13,339 West Virginia children, many of whom are from working families, will not have child care.
The budget’s proposal to increase Pell Grants by $500 over the next 5 years is just half of the $1000 total amount proposed in the Quality Education for All bill. In addition, the President’s increase on Pell Grant funding comes in the face of new eligibility rules that demand that families contribute more to the child’s college education. As a result of these rule changes, approximately 1 million students across the country will receive less Pell Grant funding and 90,000 students will be purged from the Pell Grant rolls.
West Virginians will be especially hurt by these rule changes, as West Virginia families will be required to contribute more for their students’ college education. In all, nearly half of West Virginia’s students will have their Pell Grant funding reduced or will lose it altogether.
“Budgets are records of our values, and this budget doesn’t show that education is one of our top priorities,” said Rockefeller.
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