More Resources Press Release President's FY 2005 Budget Request for ED Event Photo

Thank you all for coming. Today, I’ll discuss some of the highlights in the president’s fiscal year 2005 budget proposal for education. Then I will be happy to respond to your questions, along with Acting Deputy Secretary Gene Hickok, Todd Jones, Associate Deputy Secretary for Budget, and Budget Service Director Tom Skelly.

I would like to preface our discussion with some comments about the management improvements here at the Department. Over the last three years, we made some important changes that required hard work and discipline. Now, because of a concerted effort on the part of Department staff, taxpayers can rest assured that their hard-earned tax dollars will be managed responsibly.

We are demanding the same kind of accountability and results of ourselves that we would expect of any school. I’m proud to report that for fiscal year 2003, the Department received its second consecutive unqualified “clean” financial audit opinion. This represented only the third clean audit in the Department’s 24-year history.

We have again demonstrated progress in all areas of the President’s Management Agenda. On Friday, the Office of Management and Budget announced that Education received a major upgrade on financial performance—moving from a RED to GREEN status score. We have continued the improvements of the last three years to remain among elite company—in the top one-third of all government agencies. These are critical steps forward in our efforts to inject accountability into everything we do here at the Department of Education.

With this year’s budget cycle, we received more good news. President Bush has again provided record support for our nation’s students, parents, schools and teachers. The president is requesting $57.3 billion in discretionary appropriations for the Department of Education in fiscal year 2005. This represents an increase of $1.7 billion—or 3 percent—over the 2004 level. The request would cap a five-year increase in Department discretionary appropriations of nearly $22 billion, or 61 percent.

The 2005 budget continues to place a strong priority on our three largest programs. These are the Title I program, Special Education Grants to States, and Pell Grants.

The president has requested a $1 billion increase for the Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies program. The Title I program provides supplemental funding for more than 15 million students in high-poverty school districts across the nation. These are the children who need our help the most—who are the most in danger of falling through the cracks. Many are struggling on the wrong side of a staggering achievement gap with their more advantaged peers. If enacted, this request would result in a Title I increase of $4.6 billion, or 52 percent, since the president took office.

The president also requested a $1 billion increase for the Special Education Grants to States program—for a 2005 total of $11.1 billion. This represents his fourth-consecutive $1 billion increase for students in special education—and an increase of 75 percent since he took office.

The third major increase for 2005 is $823 million for Pell Grants, for a total request of $12.9 billion. This increase will help an estimated 5.3 million students from low-income families pay for postsecondary education—one million more students than when the president took office.

We know students who complete a rigorous curriculum are more likely to pursue and succeed in postsecondary education. So the budget also includes $33 million for new Enhanced Pell Grants for State Scholars. This new program will provide an additional $1,000 for freshman who took challenging courses in high school.

I am also pleased that the Department is playing a key role in the President’s Jobs for the 21st Century initiative. Our budget contains $333 million for a package of proposals that would help ensure that middle and high school students are better prepared to succeed in postsecondary education and the workforce. The Enhanced Pell Grants are part of this package. These proposals would support this goal in two ways: first, by improving instruction to ensure students are performing on grade level in reading and mathematics; and second, by supporting efforts to increase the rigor of secondary school curricula.

The 2005 request would expand support for Reading First, to help meet the president’s goal that all children read on grade level by the end of third grade. This program offers children in grades K-3 the benefits of research-based, comprehensive reading instruction. The budget would provide $1.1 billion for Reading First State Grants, an increase of $101 million or 10 percent over last year.

The Early Reading First program is an important complement to Reading First. This program provides support to existing pre-school programs, so that young children are prepared to learn when they show up for their very first day of kindergarten or first grade. The budget provides $132 million for Early Reading First, an increase of $38 million or 40 percent. Support for effective reading instruction is one of the priorities at the Department, and this increase will enhance our efforts.

President Bush has also made it a priority to extend educational options to all parents and students—not just to those who can afford this freedom. Choice also enhances school effectiveness by breaking down the public education monopoly. Only in the field of education would competition and measurement be an innovation.

The No Child Left Behind Act helps to ensure that students in low-performing schools have the opportunity to transfer to a school where they will be better served. Less than two weeks ago, Congress gave final approval to a federally funded opportunity scholarship program for the District of Columbia. This program will give an estimated 1,700 students from low-income families the same option to attend a high-quality private school that was previously available only to families with the means to vote with their feet. We are extending civil rights and social justice.

The president’s 2005 budget would build on these achievements by investing an additional $113 million in expanding choices for students and parents. The request includes $50 million for a new Choice Incentive Fund. This would provide competitive awards to states, school districts and community-based nonprofit organizations to provide parents the opportunity to transfer their children to a higher-performing public, private or charter school. One of the biggest obstacles to starting a charter school is finding and affording a decent facility. We would significantly expand support for charter schools by increasing funding for the Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities program to $100 million. This program encourages greater private-sector lending to finance academic facilities for charter schools.

With his 2005 budget request, President Bush has reaffirmed his commitment to our nation’s children, parents and teachers. When the president said in his State of the Union address, “We have not come all this way only to falter and leave our work unfinished,” I took that message to heart for our mission at the Department. In the last three years, we have witnessed watershed moments in education. States have all developed plans to ensure they will attend to the needs of all their students—every single one. And I believe that, one day, we will look back on these years and say that this was the turning point. The historic Brown v. Board of Education decision broke down the barriers that prevented some of us from entering classrooms. But, we still have a long way to go before we ensure educational equity for disadvantaged children.

The president and I share a vision. We believe that all children can learn. We believe that all children deserve the opportunity for a great education. I believe that, today, at the start of the third year of the No Child Left Behind Act, we are closer to making that vision a reality.

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