[JohnR]

Originally Posted by stripersnipr

Title I aid to local school districts. Increased by $1 billion, from $11.35 billion proposed for FY 2003 to $12.35 billion for FY 2004. Title I provides federal aid to disadvantaged schools and students, with significant flexibility for local school officials to decide how funds are spent. When the President’s FY 2003 request for Title I is enacted, federal Title I funding will have received a larger increase during the first two years of President George W. Bush’s administration than during the previous seven years combined under President Bill Clinton. The President’s FY 2004 Budget adds $1 billion on top of that for Title I.

Reading First. Increased by $75 million, from $1.075 billion proposed for FY 2003 to $1.150 billion for FY 2004. President Bush’s Reading First initiative, created by the No Child Left Behind Act, tripled federal funding for reading programs and awards grants to states and school districts that use proven reading instruction methods rooted in scientifically-based research. In his original NCLB blueprint, the President committed to providing $5 billion for Reading First over a 5-year period. The President’s FY 2004 Budget keeps the federal government on track toward meeting that goal.

Early Reading First. Increased by $25 million, or 33 percent. Early Reading First is the preschool component of the Reading First initiative.

Transition to Teaching. Increased by $10 million, from $39.4 million proposed for FY 2003 to $49.4 million for FY 2004.

Troops to Teachers. Increased by $5 million, from $20 million proposed for FY 2003 to $25 million for FY 2004.

State Assessments. Increased by $3 million, from $387 million proposed for FY 2003 to $390 million for FY 2004. Hundreds of millions of federal dollars have been provided to states annually to help them design and implement their annual statewide tests in reading and math in grades 3-8. The President’s FY 2004 Budget provides even more.

Charter School Grants. Increased by $20 million, from $200 million proposed for FY 2003 to $220 million for FY 2004. This program increases public school choice options by supporting the planning, development, and initial implementation of public charter schools across the nation.

Choice Incentive Fund. Increased by $25 million, from $50 million proposed for FY 2003 to $75 million for FY 2004. This proposed initiative would provide the parents of children who attend underachieving schools with expanded opportunities for transferring their children to a higher-performing public, charter, or private school.

And many of these programs (and others) have now been cur significantly or eliminated all together for 2005 and 2006 and proposed for 2007.