Leaving the Truth Behind: Federal Funding of Education Increases

Despite the failings of President Bush's No Child Left Behind program, not all of the criticisms are completely valid. One of these criticisms is about the level of federal funding for education.

Despite what many people believe, Responsibility for the education of our children has never been the federal government's responsibility. The U. S. Constitution gives that responsibility to the individual states. Historically, the greatest majority of spending on education has come from the state and local level.

While K-12 education is mainly the responsibility of state and local governments, the federal government does recognize the impact of education on the nation. That is why the U. S. Department of Education was formed, and the federal government began funding education. The majority of the funding for public education is still provided at the sate and local level, with assistance from federal funding.

One of the criticisms is that spending on education has been hurt because of increased spending on the war in Iraq. However, budget figures show that spending on education far exceeds spending on defense. Those figures also show that federal funding of education has increased in spite of the war effort.

Based on information for the 2004-05 school year, the federal governments contributed 8.3% of the funds for education. The remainder of the money came from state and local spending, and from private and corporate donations. While to many 8.3% seems like a small amount, it does represent an increase in spending over previous years.

In fact, total spending on education has increased at all levels of government. In 2004-05, the total taxpayer investment in K-12 education was an estimated $536 billion. Higher education received an additional $373 billion. National spending on education has increased by an estimated 105% since the 1991-92 school year, and has increased 40% since the 1998-99 school year. When adjusted for inflation, this represents a 24% increase in spending per pupil since 1991-92, and a 10% increase since 1998-99.

Another of the criticisms is that not enough is being earmarked for the poorer school districts and for children with disabilities. Under the Presidents 2006 budget, 65% of the Department of Educations funds for primary and secondary education was allocated for children with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and for poorer students under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA Title I).

The final criticisms that are leveled against the Bush Administration is that the No Child Left Behind Act is an unfunded mandate by the U. S. Government, and that it has not allocated the money that was promised to fund the program. First, No Child Left Behind is not a federal mandate. All of the programs and provisions are voluntary. The laws only affect those school districts that voluntarily accept federal funding for that specific program. School districts do have the ability to opt out of any of the individual programs covered under the No Child Left Behind Act. While most school districts have accepted the federal fund, some have decided not to.

Second, "Authorization Caps" are not promises of spending levels. They represent the maximum amount Congress is allowed to spend on any program. All federal programs have an authorization cap, and the majority of those programs are budgeted well below that cap. The authorization cap essentially says, if the money is available, this is the most Congress is able to spend.

While the No Child Left Behind Act has it's critics, and rightly so, those criticisms should be based on facts. There are many areas in our public education system that need to be addressed, throwing more money at the problem usually results in a more expensive problem.