Contact:
Devin Boyle | 202.445.0416 | Devin@dfer.org
Charles Barone | 202.674.3020| CharlesBarone@dfer.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Obama Education Budget Balancing Act Earns High Praise from DFER
Democrats for Education Reform applauds President Obama for continuing to place paramount importance on ensuring that every child has the opportunity to learn to his or her highest potential. In an extremely tight budget environment, in which many programs are facing federal budget cuts, the Administration has proposed increasing education funding over and above pre-sequester FY2012 levels. Equally important, the President has paired increased resources with an emphasis on quality. The continuation of competitive grant programs, such as Race to the Top and the Investing in Innovation Fund, is indicative of the President’s commitment to leveraging the assets of the Federal government to promote needed state and local education reforms.
In addition, the Administration is to be commended for targeting scarce education resources on approaches with proven effectiveness. The $294 million proposed for the Expanding Educational Options program, for example, represents a significant step forward in providing students and their families with not only more public school options, but ones that use approaches with demonstrated results. Similarly, the Administration has wisely chosen to reserve up to 25% of federal funding to improve the quality of professional development for teachers, rather than spreading all funding around irrespective of quality.
We commend the President’s efforts to provide access to high-quality pre-school for all lower and middle-income children. Enabling children to begin their education careers on the right path is vital to improving academic achievement levels across the spectrum. Equally important, however, is ensuring that these children are building on their pre-school experiences by attending elementary and secondary schools that also provide an excellent education, or this substantial investment risks being squandered. It is for this reason that we appreciate the President’s decision not to disinvest from other baseline programs in order to fund this new initiative.
Finally, we are grateful for President Obama’s commitment to making a college education more affordable–and thus more accessible–to our students. Whereas the original Race-to-the-Top spurred a wave of progressive actions in states on K-12 education, we are confident that the proposed postsecondary education version can yield similar results. Additionally, the newly proposed First in the World fund has the potential to spark creative new solutions for delivering a high-quality education to more students than ever before and has the potential to reshape the lives of millions.
All of these programs will undoubtedly need to be supported by policies that further push states, schools, and colleges to do their part in driving improvements to academic achievement levels. With nearly every major Federal law due for reauthorization, clearly there is much still to be done. This budget, however, signifies a substantial down payment, and we look forward to working with President Obama and Congress on behalf of our nation’s students.
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