Bush Leaves America’s Children Behind

Today, President Bush will resurrect one of his most well-known policy failures, the No Child Left Behind Act, during remarks at Woodridge Elementary and Middle School in Washington, DC. While the President likes to tout the Act as one his few legislative successes, the reality is that the White House and Republicans in Congress have under-funded the law by $40 billion since its passage in 2001. States have even been forced to sue the Bush Administration to get the necessary funds to implement the Act. At the same time, the President has made repeated attempts to cut Even Start, bilingual education and after-school programs.

“The broken promises of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act are disgraceful,” said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Stacie Paxton. “No matter how hard the Bush Administration tries to spin today’s events, they cannot hide the fact that President Bush’s repeated under-funding of his own No Child Left Behind legislation has denied millions of American schoolchildren the opportunity to succeed. Democrats will keep our promises to our schoolchildren with a new direction that makes sure every child in America has the opportunity to succeed in the classroom.”

Since 2001, Bush Has Underfunded No Child Left Behind by $40 Billion; Denies Extra Academic Help to 3.7 Million Students in 2007 Budget. Republicans have underfunded No Child Left Behind by over $40 billion over the past five years nationwide. In his latest budget, Bush has proposed to provide only half of the promised funding promised for our most disadvantaged students during 2007. As a result, 3.7 million disadvantaged children will go without promised help in reading and math. [House Democrats Education and Workforce Committee, 2/6/06]

• States Sue Bush For Unfunded Mandate of No Child Left Behind. The states of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, along with the governor of Pennsylvania, an organization of school superintendents, and state and local officials in California, filed four separate amicus briefs last month supporting lawsuit brought by the National Education Association charging that the Administration’s failure to fund the program is an unfunded mandate. 80 percent of school districts report they have NCLB costs not covered by federal funding. [Mental Health Law Report, 4/1/06]

Test Scores Raising Slower Than Before NCLB. From 2000 to 2003, before NCLB took full effect, the percentage of fourth graders scoring proficient in math rose eight percentage points, compared with four points this year. The percentage of eighth graders proficient in math rose three points before the law, compared with one point this year. The trend holds true with reading scores as well. This year's fourth-grade reading scores were flat, with 31 percent of students scoring proficient this year, the same percentage as in 2003. Eighth grade reading scores actually declined, with 31 percent scoring as proficient, compared with 32 percent in 2003. [New York Times, 10/20/05]

Bush Freezes Funding for After School Programs for the Fifth Year in a Row; Denies Two Million Children Access to Programs. The 2007 Bush budget freezes the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Initiative for the 5th year in a row, locking 2 million children out of after school programs. Under NCLB, President Bush promised to fund this program at $2.5 billion in FY 2007, more than twice as much as proposed. [House Democrats Education and Workforce Committee, 2/6/06]

Bush Tried to Eliminate Even Start Three Years in A Row. Bush’s 2005, 2006, and 2007 budgets completely eliminated the $225 million Even Start initiative, a literacy program designed to increase academic achievement of young children and their parents by helping them learn together. [Washington Post, 2/7/05, 2/6/05; Associated Press, 2/6/05; House Democrats Education and Workforce Committee, 2/6/06]

Bush Freezes Funding for Bilingual Education For the Fifth Year in A Row. The Bush budget provides no increase for bilingual education for the fifth year in a row, allocating only $80 million less than promised by NO Child Left Behind. This shortfall means over 63,000 children will be denied assistance in learning English. [House Democrats Education and Workforce Committee, 2/6/06]

Bush Undermines Teacher Quality Efforts. Bush’s 2007 budget provides $288 million less than he promised to states to help improve teacher quality. Under the budget, 1.3 million children will be denied highly qualified teachers in their classrooms and over 60,000 teachers will not get the professional development they need. [House Democrats Education and Workforce Committee, 2/6/06]