Vigorous lobbying improves 2003 funding

Education fared better than other domestic programs in the 2003 Omnibus Spending Bill Congress passed in February. The AFT lobbied vigorously to save student aid and other education programs from big cuts in the bill.

The lawmakers funded a $576 million increase to Pell grants, raising the maximum award from $4,000 to $4,050 and also providing a large down payment on the program's chronic shortfall.

All in all, the bill for fiscal year 2003 includes a 7 percent increase for education accounts funding. This is well ahead of the Bush administration's proposed increase of less than 1 percent for education over fiscal year 2002 levels and represents more than $3 billion in new funds.

AFT president Sandra Feldman noted that while this is just half of the 14 percent average annual increases seen over the last five years, "it is light years ahead of where we started, particularly given the administration's hard line on spending."

Along with others in the education community, the AFT in February worked with supporters in Congress to redirect monies from a block grant proposal by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) to Title I, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Pell grants and to restore funding to 40 programs--including the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards--previously slated for elimination in the administration's budget.

Feldman noted that "we were told by more than one member of Congress that pressure applied by constituents through e-mails, phone calls and faxes is what helped make the difference."

Some of the other increases include:

• Title I--$1.4 billion (14 percent);
• IDEA--$1.4 billion (19 percent);

• ESEA Teacher Quality State Grants--$100 million (4 percent).

"Unfortunately, we can only take a moment to savor this victory," warned Feldman. President Bush's FY 2004 budget proposal is "discouraging" when compared to the final FY 2003 numbers. The administration's FY 2004 total for education would only provide a $40 million (or 0.1 percent) increase over FY 2003--a cut in real terms because it doesn't even keep pace with inflation.
 

Welfare reform

Meanwhile, the AFT is concerned over a new welfare reform bill (passed this winter in the U.S. House of Representatives) that imposes stricter work requirements for welfare recipients.

The Personal Responsibility, Work and Family Promotion Act of 2003 offers "next to nothing to help struggling families in these tough economic times," said Feldman, who charges that the proposal is "unworkable" for a number of reasons. It requires Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) recipients to give up constructive vocational education or job searches to comply with increased short-term work requirements. This undermines the goal of ensuring that TANF recipients gain the skills to stay off welfare.

Further, to meet the new rules, states can create unpaid positions, thus displacing thousands of experienced public employees and temporarily putting untrained workers in their place, she noted.

And by potentially shifting billions of dollars away from the people Congress intended to receive the funds through the use of the "superwaiver," says the AFT, assistance for needy people who rely on such vital services as public housing, food stamps and adult education could be jeopardized.

At press time, the Senate is expected to take up the bill this month.