Debt deal could cut K-12 spending, poison No Child Left Behind process

08-03-2011

By Joy Resmovits/Huffington Post

Public schools around the country averted an immediate spending crisis when Congress voted Tuesday afternoon to pass an 11th-hour deal to raise the debt ceiling and prevent the government from defaulting on its loans. A default could have increased school systems' capital, borrowing and construction costs, forcing spending cuts in areas closely related to student learning. Schools have already suffered massive cuts in recent years, and lost about 200,000 public education employees, due to the recession and the drying up of stimulus funds. The debt deal's changes to the Pell Grant program, which helps disadvantaged students pay for college, have been highly publicized, but details of what the debt deal will mean for k-12 education funding are a bit hazier. One thing is certain: "Because of the deal, there's not going to be any great influx of federal money coming in," said Kristen Amundson, a former Virginia state legislator who now works as communications manager for Education Sector, a think tank. "It's going to be a year of austerity." (more...)

Also: Education Week

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Debt deal could cut K-12 spending, poison No Child Left Behind process

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