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<TITLE>NIFL Policy Update - President's FY 2003 Budget Proposal</TITLE>
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<DIV><SPAN class=652393417-05022002><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>Correction -- The President proposed zero funding for Prison Literacy and
Incarcerated Youth Offenders grants for FY 2003. I incorrectly listed the
FY 2002 amounts for FY 2003 in the table. Both programs would be
eliminated under the President's budget. Sorry for the
confusion.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P><B><I><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS">Christy Gullion</FONT></I></B><I></I>
<BR><I><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2>Associate Director for Federal
Policy</FONT></I> <BR><I><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2>National Institute
for Literacy</FONT></I> <BR><I><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2>1775 I
Street, NW, Suite 730</FONT></I> <BR><I><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS"
size=2>Washington, DC 20006-2417</FONT></I> <BR><I><FONT
face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2>ph. (202) 233-2033 </FONT></I><BR><I><FONT
face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2>fax (202) 233-2050</FONT></I> </P>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Gullion, Christy
[mailto:Christy.Gullion@ed.gov]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, February 05, 2002 7:48
AM<BR><B>To:</B> NLA (E-mail)<BR><B>Subject:</B> [NLA] NIFL Policy Update -
President's FY 2003 Budget Proposal<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<P><FONT size=2>President Bush Proposes Level Funding for Literacy</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>Yesterday, President Bush released his FY 2003 budget proposal
for adult education and family literacy programs, which provides level funding
for Adult Education State Grants at $575 million. Additionally, the
President proposes to level fund National Leadership Activities and provide a
slight increase for the National Institute for Literacy.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>TABLE 1</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Proposed Funding for Selected
Federal Programs (dollars in millions)</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>State Grants for Adult
Education FY
03-$575
FY 02-$575</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>National Leadership Activities FY
03-$9.5
FY 02-$9.5</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>National Institute for Literacy FY
03-$6.62 FY
02-$6.56</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Reading First State
Grants
FY 03-$1,000 FY 02-$900</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Early Reading
First Grants
FY
03-$75
FY 02-$75</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>Even Start
FY
03-$200
FY 02-$250</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Incarcerated Youth Offenders
Grants FY 03-$17
FY 02-$17</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>Prison Literacy Grants
FY
03-$5
FY 02-$5</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>21st
Century Comm. Learning Centers FY
03-$1,000 FY 02-$1,000</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Community
Technology Centers
FY 03-$0
FY 02-$32.5</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>In his State of the Union address last week, the President
indicated that his budget proposal would include domestic programs cuts to pay
for national security and homeland defense. Through his FY 2003 budget
proposal, the President plans to terminate 35 Department of Education programs
that he feels have not proven effective. The President further proposes
funding decreases for other programs he views as marginally effective.
According to the President, this "budget seeks to redirect funds from
lower-performing programs to higher-performing or more-effective
programs." </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>The President's FY 2003 budget proposal also launches a
"multi-year effort to reform job training programs across the federal
government, target resources to programs with documented effectiveness, and
eliminate funding for ineffective, duplicative, and overlapping programs."
The federal government has at least 48 training and employment programs,
including workplace basic skills programs, administered by as many as ten
different federal agencies - including the U.S. Departments of Labor and
Education. Through his FY 2003 budget proposal, the President calls for
reducing the number of job training programs from 48 to 28. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>Congress is expected to debate the President's budget proposal
throughout the spring. During this time, the U.S. House of Representatives
and the U.S. Senate will release their own budget proposals for FY 2003.
All three proposals will be considered until Congress reaches agreement on a
compromise budget. Congress will likely complete the FY 2003 budget
process by fall 2002.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>The following list describes the literacy programs included in
Table 1. </FONT></P>
<P> <FONT size=2>The President
proposes to level fund State Grants for Adult Education at $575 million.
The state grant program, administered by the Office of Vocational and Adult
Education (OVAE) within the U.S. Department of Education, helps fund most local
Adult Basic Education (ABE), Adult Secondary Education (ASE), and General
Education Development (GED) programs across the country through grants
distributed by state education agencies. Of the $575 million proposed for
state grants, $70 million is dedicated for English Literacy and Civics Education
programs. </FONT></P>
<P>
<BR> <FONT size=2>Under the
President's proposal, funding for National Leadership Activities would be level
funded at $9.5 million. This funding supports research, demonstration, and
evaluation projects administered by OVAE.</FONT></P>
<P>
<BR> <FONT size=2>The National
Institute for Literacy would receive a slight increase of $57,000 under the
President's proposed budget for FY 2003. The Institute supports
capacity building, communication, and policy analysis activities in support of
the goal that all Americans will be literate and able to succeed at work, home,
and in their communities. </FONT></P>
<P>
<BR> <FONT size=2>The President
proposes $1 billion for the new Reading First State Grants program to help
states and local educational agencies implement comprehensive reading
instruction grounded in scientifically-based reading research for children in
kindergarten through third grade. This proposal increases funding from
$900 million in FY 2002 to $1 billion in FY 2003. </FONT></P>
<P>
<BR> <FONT size=2>Early Reading First
State Grants would be level funded at $75 million under the President's
budget. This initiative would complement Reading First State Grants by
supporting model programs to develop the academic readiness of preschool
children. Activities would support evidence-based strategies to enhance
pre-reading skills and school readiness for children in preschool
programs.</FONT></P>
<P> <FONT size=2>The President's
budget proposal includes $200 million for Even Start, a decrease of $50 million
from FY 2002. Even Start funds support local projects that blend early
childhood education, parenting instruction, and adult education into a unified
family literacy program. While the President's budget describes the Even
Start program as "well-intentioned," he proposes to shift $50 million out of
Even Start into programs he expects will have a more direct impact on reading
achievement.</FONT></P>
<P> <FONT size=2>The Incarcerated
Youth Offenders state grant program would not be funded under the President's
proposal. This program provides grants to state correctional agencies to
assist and encourage incarcerated youth to acquire functional literacy, life,
and job skills through post-secondary education, employment counseling, and
related services.</FONT></P>
<P>
<BR> <FONT size=2>The budget proposal
does not fund the Prison Literacy program, which provides grants to state and
local correctional agencies to establish and operate programs that reduce
recidivism through the improvement of literacy and life skills.</FONT></P>
<P>
<BR> <FONT size=2>The 21st Century
Community Learning Centers grant supports before and after school projects that
extend learning time and offer enriching activities for youth. The
President's budget level funds this large program at $1 billion for FY
2003.</FONT></P>
<P>
<BR> <FONT size=2>Community Technology
Center (CTC) competitive grants provide opportunities for low-income children,
youth, and adults to learn vital computer literacy skills in their
communities. The President's budget eliminates funding for this
program.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>More information on the President's FY 2003 federal budget
proposal is available at <A target=_blank
href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2003/index.html">http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2003/index.html</A>
<<A target=_blank
href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/">http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/</A>>.</FONT></P><BR>
<P><FONT size=2>Christy Gullion</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Associate Director for
Federal Policy</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>National Institute for Literacy</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>1775 I Street, NW, Suite 730</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>Washington, DC 20006-2417</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>ph. (202)
233-2033 </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>fax (202) 233-2050</FONT> </P></BODY></HTML>