As appropriators work through their fiscal 1999 funding bills, education once again is shaping up as an issue that likely will lead to a showdown between the Clinton administration and the Republican-controlled Congress.
"All of the players are going to get around a table at the end," Ed Kealy, executive director of the Committee for Education Funding, a coalition of education groups, predicted this week.
At issue are both funding levels for existing programs, as well as money for administration initiatives, such as school construction.
Education groups are not pleased with the first sign they received from Congress - the funding levels in the House Labor-HHS appropriations bill. "Overall, it falls far short of what is needed and what could be done," Kealy said.
However, a House Appropriations Committee aide said the bill is a reflection of tight spending levels and the need to set priorities.
Kealy cited several programs as evidence that the House has set education funding as a low priority. The House cut funding for the Goals 2000 program in half, eliminated new funding for Perkins higher education loans and Byrd honor scholarships and held funding for the Title I program at the FY98 level.
"We're looking at the needs out there and in many areas, we see missed opportunities," Kealy said.
Education groups also are concerned about language in the House bill allowing states to use funds from Goals 2000 for the same purpose as the education block grant program. "It leads ... to less funding," Kealy said.
Kealy acknowledged that with the elimination of revenue expected from a tobacco bill and the small allocation his subpanel received, Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Edward Porter, R-Ill., is in a bind. He added that the situation may not improve in the Senate, where members want to boost health funding and restore money for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
The House Appropriations aide agreed that Porter was working under very tight caps, but added that the subcommittee did provide funding increases to some education programs.
Funding for the Trio program, which assists students in navigating the maze of applying for college, would be increased some $70 million under the House bill. In addition, funding for the Pell Grant program would allow the maximum grant to increase by $150, while funding for Impact Aid would increase $40 million. Appropriators also chose to boost the education block grant program by $50 million more than FY98 and by $400 million above the Clinton administration's request.
"It's just a difference in philosophies," the House aide said, adding that Republicans are attempting to boost block grants in an effort to provide states with "maximum flexibility." Appropriators could not fund education programs at the president's levels - even if they wanted to - because they did not have the revenue from the tobacco bill or user fees in the Clinton budget, the aide said.
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