Education News: President to Decrease Department of Education Budget
By Mimi Rothschild
President George Bush, in his Fiscal Year 2007 budget requests, asks for $54.4 billion in discretionary appropriations for the Department of Education. This is a decrease of about $3.1 billion from the previous year, or about 5.5 percent. Homeschool families shouldn't feel a huge impact from this, but the effects will be felt across the board. Homeschool families are, however, in a better position than non-homeschoolers who will feel the effects more acutely. According to the White House, the cuts are made to underperforming programs. The White House plans to promote the competitiveness of schools and students. Of course, homeschoolers already possess the unique advantage of having highly competitive study programs. The majority of the programs to be cut are those that aren't being utilized to their potential or are not performing well; the cuts should not affect homeschool families to a large degree.
Among the programs to be cut out of the 2007 Fiscal Year budget is National Even Start Program, a family literacy program. Even Start Family Literacy Programs are school-community partnerships that help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by integrating early childhood education, adult literacy or adult basic education, and parenting education into a unified family literacy program. The cutting of this program may have an effect on homeschool families as it provides instructional services to families and to support families committed to education and financial independence.
Other programs expected to be cut include: Comprehensive School Reform, Gifted and Talented, STAR Schools, Ready to Teach and Arts in Education. A number of smaller programs are being looked at to be zeroed out as well. Due to the fact that so many cuts are being made to an already weak educational system, it is far better to homeschool children. Comprehensive School Reform is a program focused on public schools and is not likely to affect homschoolers. As was the case last year, President George Bush plans to zero out the program, Enhancing Education Through Technology, or EETT. However, after the budget was released, Congress worked to restore some of the funding to the program for Fiscal Year 2006, so it is possible that some funding will be restored next year as well. The Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program is a public school based program which recently shifted its focus to fall under the umbrella of the No Child Left Behind program. Ready to Teach is a program to promote and fund telecommunications in education. Neither of these two programs should have an adverse affect on the homeschooled child's family. As is the case in nearly every Fiscal Year, this is a long process and the outcome has yet to be determined.
Essentially, the homeschooled student has the advantage over the student that attends public school. The homeschooled child doesn't need to worry about missing out on necessary learning because of program funding cuts. Moreover, the parent that homeschools their child can be rest assured in knowing that the child is getting a quality education: the education that their homeschooler needs to be successful in the future and the education that the homeschooler deserves.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling mother, writer, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of home education company Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of 28 years reside with their 8 children right outside Philadelphia, PA.
Rothschild launched Learning By Grace, Inc. because she believed that our nation's public school system has failed parents and students. Learning By Grace, Inc. offers online education through a multimedia-rich curriculum to PreK-12 children across the country and throughout the world.
An accomplished author, Rothschild has written books regarding education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Homeschooling News Café Blog consists of the most current and relevant education news.Electronic reproduction of this article is permitted if content is published unchanged, appropriate credit is given, and the article title links to corresponding article webpage.
