Federal Education Budget Signed

On December 26, President Bush signed into a law a bill that will increase federal education spending by 2.9 percent in fiscal 2008.

Funding for the Title I program for disadvantaged students increased 8.6 percent to $13.9 billion ($12.8 billion was appropriated for the program in fiscal 2007). The Reading First program however was cut significantly, dropping from $1 billion last year to $393 million in fiscal 2008.

In addition to the major increase for Title I and the cut to Reading First, the measure will appropriate:

• $10.9 billion for K-12 state grants under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a nearly 1 percent increase over the fiscal 2007 level of $10.8 billion;

• $2.93 billion to help states improve the quality of their teachers, a 1.7 percent increase; and

• $1.2 billion for career and vocational education programs, a 0.5 percent decrease.

Read more here from Education Week.