THE FEDERAL EDUCATION BUDGET

The 98th Congress has taken the first step toward restoring the role of the federal government in financing education. The passage of the FY '84 Congressional Budget Resolution is the first positive sign for education since President Reagan took office. The his­tory of education funding over the past two years is a history of neglect and near disaster.

In 1981 when President Reagan took office, federal support for education had reached an all time high. Ten percent of the total funds spent on education at all levels came from the federal government. In post-secondary education the total had reached 25 percent although many of those dollars were being used to finance the staggering interest costs associated with the Guaranteed Student Loan Program. ESEA Title I was funded at $3.8 billion; Education for the Handicapped at $1 .2 billion; Impact Aid at $700 million; other vital programs were funded and the total education budget reached $1 6 billion.

One of the first assaults by the Reagan administration was at education funding. Within two years the Department of Education Budget declined to $14 billion. Only massive pressure from AFT members, parents and our allies in the labor movement prevented the entire Reagan program from being enacted. The administration sought a 50 percent reduction in education funding, the Congress approved a 12 percent cut. The administration sought block grants for all education programs, the AFT fought to keep Title I, Education for the Handicapped and Vocational Education as categorical programs. We succeeded but the damage was still great. Block grants with large cuts in funding were enacted for Emergency School Aid, Teacher Corps and Teacher Centers. Though much damage has been done, the structure of federal aid to education remains intact.

This is the damage that has been done to children:

• One million fewer children receiving Title I services and thousands of paraprofessionals who assist classroom teachers and who often come from the same economically deprived background as Title I students have lost their jobs and seen their programs discontinued.

• The federal share of educating handicapped children declined from 12 percent to 9 percent of the excess costs involved.

• Disruptions in the Emergency School Aid program that have terminated supplementary services for school dis­tricts undergoing voluntary or court ordered desegregation.

Needy students who qualify for attendance at postsecondary institutions unable to attend college due to a lack of federal student aid programs.

This damage must be repaired.

RESOLVED, that the 67th Convention of the American Federation of Teachers calls upon the Congress to fund education programs at $16.3 billion, the amount called for in the House-passed Congressional Budget Resolution; and

RESOLVED, that priority be given to funding Title I, to the retention of Title I teachers and paraprofessionals, to Education for the Handicapped, to Adult and Vocational Education and to funding Pell Grants at their pre-1981 levels; and

RESOLVED, that the new federal program in math and science be supported at no less than $500 million as a first step and that legislation be enacted to fill the void left by the termination of Emergency School Aid and by the zero funding of Title I Concentration Grants; and

RESOLVED, that the financial realities of implementing the report on educational excellence be made clear to the administration and the Congress and that subsequent federal legislation reflect the fact that the federal government has a vital role to play in the support and funding of education and that the past two years of cutbacks and withdrawal by the federal government has contributed to the educational decline and neglect highlighted by the study on education excellence.