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U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., announced that our nation’s classrooms have become a higher priority in the federal budget.
"Congress is making good on the promises made to our students, teachers, and families. West Virginia’s schools will be given access to funding that will help purchase sorely needed tools to help prepare our students to compete in the 21st century," Byrd said.
Byrd, a senior member of the Senate Budget Committee and Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, helped to craft fiscal legislation that includes more money for elementary and secondary schools, reserve funds to make pre-school more accessible, and tax breaks for teachers who purchase school supplies. With schools and teachers having to meet the mandates of the No Child Left Behind law, federal funding is critical to classroom success. Byrd worked to help craft a budget that fixes years of broken funding promises that have burdened teachers, principals, and parents.
“For years, schools have been hamstrung with unfunded mandates and paltry federal support that make the existing challenges facing our teachers much more difficult,” Byrd said. “Schools are working hard to meet increasing federal education guidelines, and Congress must do its part to help teachers and students meet these expectations.”
The new Congressional budget rejects the Bush Administration’s proposed cuts in education and training, and adds significant new resources that could be used for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), No Child Left Behind Act, and Pell grants. For the coming fiscal year, the new budget authorizes an increase in funding for education by $9.5 billion.
"The federal government has made empty promise after empty promise when it comes to education funding. This budget says no more empty promises. We will work to give our parents, our students, and our schools the support that they need to move ahead," Byrd said.
With Thursday’s approval of the federal budget by Congress, focus will turn to the appropriations bills. One education priority that Byrd expects will receive significant attention in the funding legislation is assistance for Title I schools.
As part of the No Child Left Behind Act, the federal government is supposed to provide direct assistance to children from poorer schools. About half of West Virginia’s public schools receive Title I funding.
"Title I helps the students who need help the most -- those in rural schools and schools in poorer areas," Byrd explained. "Every child has a right to reach his or her potential, but that right has been stifled by unfulfilled commitments to our schools. It is time to provide students and teachers with the resources that they need to succeed."
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