Post by lilly on Jan 29, 2009 11:17:18 GMT -5
The stimulus package which passed through the House and will be before the Senate includes education spending. First hearing about it sounds hopeful, however....
While some is for the band-aid dire straits regular education funding, it seems to be designated for Title I (don't think Wantagh is a Title I district), special ed (finally hope that the feds actually fund those laws as opposed to states & taxpayers holding the bag) and building modernization and renovation projects/construction (we're paying debt service for bonds that did that).
So, tbd on Wantagh implications, but thought the following articles & editorials were interesting:
__________________________
Washington Post
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/28/AR2009012803261.html
An Education Stimulus?
Congress's proposed spending on schools should be linked to reforms.
Thursday, January 29, 2009; Page A18
EDUCATION is poised to win big under the economic stimulus plan hurtling through Congress. But it remains to be seen whether America's schoolchildren really will be helped by the huge investment of public funds that is being planned. After all, it seems that much of the billions of dollars of new federal spending is aimed at continuing programs and policies that largely have failed to improve student achievement. For the amount of money being spent, Congress should insist on real change, not simply more of the same.
The plan shaped by President Obama and congressional Democrats proposes to more than double the current budget of the Education Department, with $150 billion of new federal spending over two years. States facing budget shortfalls would be able to tap into $79 billion to avoid layoffs and other education cuts. There would, as the New York Times reported, be big boosts in Title I grants to help educate poor children and for students in special education. For the first time, the federal government would play a significant role in the repair and construction of schools. Money also would be expended to strengthen Head Start and shore up Pell grants for college students. The House passed its version yesterday, and the Senate is likely to act soon. Critical work will have to be done in conference.
Don't get us wrong. We are glad to see education ranked as an important national priority, and it is prudent for the federal government to help states forestall debilitating cuts in school programs. One only has to look at the progress being made in such places as Prince George's County to appreciate the importance of not having to lay off good teachers or to grossly increase class sizes. And, by saving jobs, such expenditures do meet the test of providing a stimulus to the economy.
ad_icon
Nonetheless, Congress will not be getting its money's worth unless it insists on real reforms in what students are expected to learn and how teachers are compensated. Instead of offering extra money to states for doing what they should be doing under current law, why not put in place tough new national standards and demand that states meet them to get money? If the federal government is to help save teaching jobs, shouldn't it demand a way to get rid of ineffective teachers? Current funding formulas already put school districts with the most urgent needs at a disadvantage, so why use them to allocate the new money?
Answering those questions is likely to take more time and thought. We understand the urgency of the need for spending that will jump-start the economy, but if Congress merely props up the educational status quo, it will be wasting more than money.
_________________________________________
Education Week
www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/01/16/18stimulus.h28.html?tmp=1183233055
Cash-strapped school districts could see an unprecedented $100 billion infusion of federal aid under a massive economic-stimulus package unveiled by House Democrats this week.
The overall measure, put forth Jan. 15 by the House Appropriations Committee, is aimed at providing a $825 billion jolt to the stumbling U.S. economy, and to help avert what could be draconian cuts in state and local programs, including education.
The more than $100 billion in federal spending for education in the stimulus bill would be nearly double the entire $59.2 billion discretionary budget for the U.S. Department of Education in fiscal 2008.
The K-12 education funding would come from various components of the stimulus package. The legislation includes a $79 billion fund to help states to prevent cuts in services, the bulk of which is slated for education. On top of that, the measure outlines specific aid for school construction, support for early-childhood education, and substantial spending boosts for major Education Department programs, including Title I grants for educating disadvantaged students and aid for special education.
“We really have turned a corner here. This is a new era for education funding,” assuming the plan is enacted, said Edward R. Kealy, the executive director of the Committee for Education Funding, an advocacy coalition in Washington.
Mr. Kealy, who has been lobbying for increased federal education spending for more than two decades, said he had never seen dollar amounts for schools like those in the proposed House stimulus plan.
“This makes a very strong statement that providing adequate funding for education and modernizing schools is a key part of the solution to this economic crisis,” he said. “We hope this means that we can sustain that in future years. I know that’s going to be a challenge.”
Before taking office, members of President-elect Barack Obama's staff were on Capitol Hill this month, working with lawmakers to craft the measure. The House appropriations panel is slated to consider the bill Jan. 21, and the Senate was expected to release a similar plan.
Aid for Construction
Key existing programs would be targeted for major increases, including a $13 billion boost for Title I, which effectively doubles the amount of money the program received in fiscal 2008. The measure would provide an additional $13 billion for grants to states for students under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act—more than the entire $10.9 billion appropriated for that program in fiscal 2008, which ended Sept. 30.
“That will dramatically relieve the local burden districts face in covering the federal shortfall,” said Mary L. Kusler, the assistant director of government relations for the American Association of School Administrators, in Arlington, Va. Democratic congressional staff members said last week that the Senate bill would likely include similar proposals for Title I, the idea, and general aid for states.
The House bill contains an additional $20 billion in school construction grants, including $14 billion for K-12 schools and $6 billion for higher education. The stimulus package is also likely to include money for school construction bonds.
The K-12 grant program would be modeled on a school construction measure that passed the House last June. The money could be used for a variety of modernization, renovation, and repair projects. Many of the projects financed under the bill would also have to meet certain environmental standards.
The measure also includes $1 billion for educational technology, including computer and science labs, and teacher technology training. And it would provide $250 million in competitive grants for states to create data systems that analyze individual student performance results to help bolster achievement.
GOP Questions
The House bill would include new money for teacher training, including $200 million for the Teacher Incentive Fund, which provides grants to districts to develop pay-for-performance programs. That’s roughly double the $97 million the program received in fiscal 2008. Although the dollar amount is fairly small, the increase sends a signal that the incoming administration is likely to support the program.
The TIF program has been criticized by the 3.2 million-member National Education Association, in part because grantees are not required to develop the alternative-pay programs in collaboration with teachers’ unions.
Meanwhile, $15 billion of the $79 billion fund targeted for state aid would be awarded as “incentive grants” for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. States that receive the grants would have to provide assurances that they are working to develop longitudinal data systems, enhance assessments for students in special education and English-language learners, and ensure equitable assignment of teachers, among other requirements.
Congress has not yet passed regular spending bills for most federal agencies for fiscal 2009, which began Oct. 1. Instead, lawmakers passed a measure last fall extending funding for most programs at fiscal 2008 levels through early March.
Lawmakers are expected to approve fiscal 2009 spending legislation early this year.
Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader, issued a statement Jan. 15 saying he was “disappointed” with the bill.
The plan “appears to be grounded in the flawed notion that we can simply borrow and spend our way back to prosperity,” he said. Some analysts are concerned that the proposed House stimulus package comes with too few strings attached and would relieve states and school districts from making the kinds of tough budget choices that could ultimately bolster student achievement.
“Tough budget times can actually be helpful, in that they provide political cover for districts to do difficult but important things, such as removing staff that are ineffective,” said Michael J. Petrilli, a vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a think tank in Washington, and a former Education Department official under the outgoing administration.
But officials in school districts contemplating budget cuts say that extra federal money couldn’t come soon enough.
“It’s very exciting,” said Judith Johnson, the superintendent of the 3,000-student Peekskill, N.Y., school district, referring to the prospect of new aid.
“Our school district has been dramatically affected” by the economic recession, she said.
The district is facing a $4 million shortfall in a $74 million budget, in part because of cuts in state aid. It is contemplating laying off about 55 employees, including teachers, and slashing enrichment programs, Ms. Johnson said.
“If the stimulus money comes our way,” she said, “we have a priority list of what goes back into the budget.”
______________________________________
The International Herald Tribune
www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/28/america/28educ.php
The economic stimulus plan that Congress has scheduled for a vote on Wednesday would shower the nation's school districts, child care centers and university campuses with $150 billion in new federal spending, a vast two-year investment that would more than double the Department of Education's current budget.
The proposed emergency expenditures on nearly every realm of education, including school renovation, special education, Head Start and grants to needy college students, would amount to the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II.
Critics and supporters alike said that by its sheer scope, the measure could profoundly change the federal government's role in education, which has traditionally been the responsibility of state and local government.
Responding in part to a plea from Democratic governors earlier this month, Congress allocated $79 billion to help states facing large fiscal shortfalls maintain government services, and especially to avoid cuts to education programs, from pre-kindergarten through higher education.
Obama administration officials, teachers unions and associations representing school boards, colleges and other institutions in American education said the aid would bring crucial financial relief to the nation's 15,000 school districts and to thousands of campuses otherwise threatened with severe cutbacks.
"This is going to avert literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Tuesday.
Representative George Miller, Democrat of California and chairman of the House education committee, said, "We cannot let education collapse; we have to provide this level of support to schools."
But Republicans strongly criticized some of the proposals as wasteful spending and an ill-considered expansion of the federal government's role, traditionally centered on aid to needy students, into new realms like local school construction.
And they were joined by some education experts from across the political spectrum in wondering how school districts could spend so many new billions so fast, whether such an outpouring of dollars would lead to higher student achievement, and what might happen in two years when the stimulus money ends.
Analysts were also turning up surprises in the fine print.
One provision, which was sought by the student lending industry and went unmentioned in early congressional summaries of the stimulus package, would temporarily increase subsidies to banks in the guaranteed student loan program by tying them to a new index, partly because recent federal intervention in the credit markets has invalidated the previous index. A spokesman for Sallie Mae, one of the largest student lenders, said the change was needed to keep student loan markets fluid. Critics said it represented a potential new windfall for lenders.
"This just continues the well-established tradition of welfare for the student loan industry," said Barmak Nassirian, an expert in student lending.
The formulas by which the stimulus money for public schools would be allocated to states and local districts are complex, but take into consideration numbers of school-age children in poor families. The level received per student would vary considerably by state, according to an analysis by the New America Foundation, a research group that monitors education spending. New York would be among the biggest beneficiaries, at $760 per student, while New Jersey and Connecticut would fall near the bottom, with $427 and $409 per student, respectively. The District of Columbia would get the most per student, $1,289, according to the foundation's analysis.
The foundation contends, however, that the formula does not effectively allocate the most money to states with the greatest need.
In recent years the federal government has contributed 9 percent of the nation's total spending on public schools, with states and local districts financing the rest. Washington has contributed 19 percent of spending on higher education. The stimulus package would raise those federal proportions significantly.
The Department of Education's discretionary budget for the 2008 fiscal year was about $60 billion. The stimulus bill would raise that to about $135 billion this year, and to about $146 billion in 2010. Other federal agencies would administer about $20 billion in additional education-related spending.
"This really marks a new era in federal education spending," said Edward Kealy, executive director of the Committee for Education Funding, a coalition of 90 education groups.
The bill would increase 2009 fiscal year spending on Title I, a program of specialized classroom efforts to help educate poor children, to $20 billion from about $14.5 billion, and raise spending on education for disabled children to $17 billion from $11 billion.
Those increases respond to longtime demands by teachers unions, school boards and others that Washington fully finance the mandates laid out for states and districts in the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law, and in the main federal law regulating special education.
"We've been arguing that the federal government hasn't been living up to its commitments, but these increases go a substantial way toward meeting them," said Joel Packer, a lobbyist for the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union.
Frederick Hess, an education policy analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, criticized the bill as failing to include mechanisms to encourage districts to bring school budgets in line with property tax revenues, which have plunged with the bursting of the real estate bubble.
"It's like an alcoholic at the end of the night when the bars close, and the solution is to open the bar for another hour," Hess said.
The bill would, for the first time, involve the federal government in a significant fashion in the building and renovation of schools, which has been the responsibility of states and districts. It includes $20 billion for school renovation and modernization, with $14 billion for elementary and secondary schools and $6 billion for higher education. It also includes tax provisions under which the federal government would pay the interest on construction bonds issued by school districts.
Duncan said the bill's school renovation provisions would create a "huge number of construction jobs," because so many school buildings need repairs.
But Representative Howard McKeon, Republican of California and the ranking minority member of the House education committee, said, "By putting the federal government in the business of building schools, Democrats may be irrevocably changing the federal government's role in education in this country."
In higher education, the bill would increase spending on Pell Grants, the most important federal student aid program, to $27 billion from about $19 billion this year.
"It's a very good idea to increase Pell Grants in the stimulus," said Terry Hartle, a senior vice president for public affairs at the American Council on Education, which represents colleges and universities.
But Hartle said that even he was having difficulty tracking all the new spending.
"A lot of things will go through, and only later will we know exactly what happened," he said.
While some is for the band-aid dire straits regular education funding, it seems to be designated for Title I (don't think Wantagh is a Title I district), special ed (finally hope that the feds actually fund those laws as opposed to states & taxpayers holding the bag) and building modernization and renovation projects/construction (we're paying debt service for bonds that did that).
So, tbd on Wantagh implications, but thought the following articles & editorials were interesting:
__________________________
Washington Post
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/28/AR2009012803261.html
An Education Stimulus?
Congress's proposed spending on schools should be linked to reforms.
Thursday, January 29, 2009; Page A18
EDUCATION is poised to win big under the economic stimulus plan hurtling through Congress. But it remains to be seen whether America's schoolchildren really will be helped by the huge investment of public funds that is being planned. After all, it seems that much of the billions of dollars of new federal spending is aimed at continuing programs and policies that largely have failed to improve student achievement. For the amount of money being spent, Congress should insist on real change, not simply more of the same.
The plan shaped by President Obama and congressional Democrats proposes to more than double the current budget of the Education Department, with $150 billion of new federal spending over two years. States facing budget shortfalls would be able to tap into $79 billion to avoid layoffs and other education cuts. There would, as the New York Times reported, be big boosts in Title I grants to help educate poor children and for students in special education. For the first time, the federal government would play a significant role in the repair and construction of schools. Money also would be expended to strengthen Head Start and shore up Pell grants for college students. The House passed its version yesterday, and the Senate is likely to act soon. Critical work will have to be done in conference.
Don't get us wrong. We are glad to see education ranked as an important national priority, and it is prudent for the federal government to help states forestall debilitating cuts in school programs. One only has to look at the progress being made in such places as Prince George's County to appreciate the importance of not having to lay off good teachers or to grossly increase class sizes. And, by saving jobs, such expenditures do meet the test of providing a stimulus to the economy.
ad_icon
Nonetheless, Congress will not be getting its money's worth unless it insists on real reforms in what students are expected to learn and how teachers are compensated. Instead of offering extra money to states for doing what they should be doing under current law, why not put in place tough new national standards and demand that states meet them to get money? If the federal government is to help save teaching jobs, shouldn't it demand a way to get rid of ineffective teachers? Current funding formulas already put school districts with the most urgent needs at a disadvantage, so why use them to allocate the new money?
Answering those questions is likely to take more time and thought. We understand the urgency of the need for spending that will jump-start the economy, but if Congress merely props up the educational status quo, it will be wasting more than money.
_________________________________________
Education Week
www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/01/16/18stimulus.h28.html?tmp=1183233055
Cash-strapped school districts could see an unprecedented $100 billion infusion of federal aid under a massive economic-stimulus package unveiled by House Democrats this week.
The overall measure, put forth Jan. 15 by the House Appropriations Committee, is aimed at providing a $825 billion jolt to the stumbling U.S. economy, and to help avert what could be draconian cuts in state and local programs, including education.
The more than $100 billion in federal spending for education in the stimulus bill would be nearly double the entire $59.2 billion discretionary budget for the U.S. Department of Education in fiscal 2008.
The K-12 education funding would come from various components of the stimulus package. The legislation includes a $79 billion fund to help states to prevent cuts in services, the bulk of which is slated for education. On top of that, the measure outlines specific aid for school construction, support for early-childhood education, and substantial spending boosts for major Education Department programs, including Title I grants for educating disadvantaged students and aid for special education.
“We really have turned a corner here. This is a new era for education funding,” assuming the plan is enacted, said Edward R. Kealy, the executive director of the Committee for Education Funding, an advocacy coalition in Washington.
Mr. Kealy, who has been lobbying for increased federal education spending for more than two decades, said he had never seen dollar amounts for schools like those in the proposed House stimulus plan.
“This makes a very strong statement that providing adequate funding for education and modernizing schools is a key part of the solution to this economic crisis,” he said. “We hope this means that we can sustain that in future years. I know that’s going to be a challenge.”
Before taking office, members of President-elect Barack Obama's staff were on Capitol Hill this month, working with lawmakers to craft the measure. The House appropriations panel is slated to consider the bill Jan. 21, and the Senate was expected to release a similar plan.
Aid for Construction
Key existing programs would be targeted for major increases, including a $13 billion boost for Title I, which effectively doubles the amount of money the program received in fiscal 2008. The measure would provide an additional $13 billion for grants to states for students under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act—more than the entire $10.9 billion appropriated for that program in fiscal 2008, which ended Sept. 30.
“That will dramatically relieve the local burden districts face in covering the federal shortfall,” said Mary L. Kusler, the assistant director of government relations for the American Association of School Administrators, in Arlington, Va. Democratic congressional staff members said last week that the Senate bill would likely include similar proposals for Title I, the idea, and general aid for states.
The House bill contains an additional $20 billion in school construction grants, including $14 billion for K-12 schools and $6 billion for higher education. The stimulus package is also likely to include money for school construction bonds.
The K-12 grant program would be modeled on a school construction measure that passed the House last June. The money could be used for a variety of modernization, renovation, and repair projects. Many of the projects financed under the bill would also have to meet certain environmental standards.
The measure also includes $1 billion for educational technology, including computer and science labs, and teacher technology training. And it would provide $250 million in competitive grants for states to create data systems that analyze individual student performance results to help bolster achievement.
GOP Questions
The House bill would include new money for teacher training, including $200 million for the Teacher Incentive Fund, which provides grants to districts to develop pay-for-performance programs. That’s roughly double the $97 million the program received in fiscal 2008. Although the dollar amount is fairly small, the increase sends a signal that the incoming administration is likely to support the program.
The TIF program has been criticized by the 3.2 million-member National Education Association, in part because grantees are not required to develop the alternative-pay programs in collaboration with teachers’ unions.
Meanwhile, $15 billion of the $79 billion fund targeted for state aid would be awarded as “incentive grants” for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. States that receive the grants would have to provide assurances that they are working to develop longitudinal data systems, enhance assessments for students in special education and English-language learners, and ensure equitable assignment of teachers, among other requirements.
Congress has not yet passed regular spending bills for most federal agencies for fiscal 2009, which began Oct. 1. Instead, lawmakers passed a measure last fall extending funding for most programs at fiscal 2008 levels through early March.
Lawmakers are expected to approve fiscal 2009 spending legislation early this year.
Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader, issued a statement Jan. 15 saying he was “disappointed” with the bill.
The plan “appears to be grounded in the flawed notion that we can simply borrow and spend our way back to prosperity,” he said. Some analysts are concerned that the proposed House stimulus package comes with too few strings attached and would relieve states and school districts from making the kinds of tough budget choices that could ultimately bolster student achievement.
“Tough budget times can actually be helpful, in that they provide political cover for districts to do difficult but important things, such as removing staff that are ineffective,” said Michael J. Petrilli, a vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a think tank in Washington, and a former Education Department official under the outgoing administration.
But officials in school districts contemplating budget cuts say that extra federal money couldn’t come soon enough.
“It’s very exciting,” said Judith Johnson, the superintendent of the 3,000-student Peekskill, N.Y., school district, referring to the prospect of new aid.
“Our school district has been dramatically affected” by the economic recession, she said.
The district is facing a $4 million shortfall in a $74 million budget, in part because of cuts in state aid. It is contemplating laying off about 55 employees, including teachers, and slashing enrichment programs, Ms. Johnson said.
“If the stimulus money comes our way,” she said, “we have a priority list of what goes back into the budget.”
______________________________________
The International Herald Tribune
www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/28/america/28educ.php
The economic stimulus plan that Congress has scheduled for a vote on Wednesday would shower the nation's school districts, child care centers and university campuses with $150 billion in new federal spending, a vast two-year investment that would more than double the Department of Education's current budget.
The proposed emergency expenditures on nearly every realm of education, including school renovation, special education, Head Start and grants to needy college students, would amount to the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II.
Critics and supporters alike said that by its sheer scope, the measure could profoundly change the federal government's role in education, which has traditionally been the responsibility of state and local government.
Responding in part to a plea from Democratic governors earlier this month, Congress allocated $79 billion to help states facing large fiscal shortfalls maintain government services, and especially to avoid cuts to education programs, from pre-kindergarten through higher education.
Obama administration officials, teachers unions and associations representing school boards, colleges and other institutions in American education said the aid would bring crucial financial relief to the nation's 15,000 school districts and to thousands of campuses otherwise threatened with severe cutbacks.
"This is going to avert literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Tuesday.
Representative George Miller, Democrat of California and chairman of the House education committee, said, "We cannot let education collapse; we have to provide this level of support to schools."
But Republicans strongly criticized some of the proposals as wasteful spending and an ill-considered expansion of the federal government's role, traditionally centered on aid to needy students, into new realms like local school construction.
And they were joined by some education experts from across the political spectrum in wondering how school districts could spend so many new billions so fast, whether such an outpouring of dollars would lead to higher student achievement, and what might happen in two years when the stimulus money ends.
Analysts were also turning up surprises in the fine print.
One provision, which was sought by the student lending industry and went unmentioned in early congressional summaries of the stimulus package, would temporarily increase subsidies to banks in the guaranteed student loan program by tying them to a new index, partly because recent federal intervention in the credit markets has invalidated the previous index. A spokesman for Sallie Mae, one of the largest student lenders, said the change was needed to keep student loan markets fluid. Critics said it represented a potential new windfall for lenders.
"This just continues the well-established tradition of welfare for the student loan industry," said Barmak Nassirian, an expert in student lending.
The formulas by which the stimulus money for public schools would be allocated to states and local districts are complex, but take into consideration numbers of school-age children in poor families. The level received per student would vary considerably by state, according to an analysis by the New America Foundation, a research group that monitors education spending. New York would be among the biggest beneficiaries, at $760 per student, while New Jersey and Connecticut would fall near the bottom, with $427 and $409 per student, respectively. The District of Columbia would get the most per student, $1,289, according to the foundation's analysis.
The foundation contends, however, that the formula does not effectively allocate the most money to states with the greatest need.
In recent years the federal government has contributed 9 percent of the nation's total spending on public schools, with states and local districts financing the rest. Washington has contributed 19 percent of spending on higher education. The stimulus package would raise those federal proportions significantly.
The Department of Education's discretionary budget for the 2008 fiscal year was about $60 billion. The stimulus bill would raise that to about $135 billion this year, and to about $146 billion in 2010. Other federal agencies would administer about $20 billion in additional education-related spending.
"This really marks a new era in federal education spending," said Edward Kealy, executive director of the Committee for Education Funding, a coalition of 90 education groups.
The bill would increase 2009 fiscal year spending on Title I, a program of specialized classroom efforts to help educate poor children, to $20 billion from about $14.5 billion, and raise spending on education for disabled children to $17 billion from $11 billion.
Those increases respond to longtime demands by teachers unions, school boards and others that Washington fully finance the mandates laid out for states and districts in the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law, and in the main federal law regulating special education.
"We've been arguing that the federal government hasn't been living up to its commitments, but these increases go a substantial way toward meeting them," said Joel Packer, a lobbyist for the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union.
Frederick Hess, an education policy analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, criticized the bill as failing to include mechanisms to encourage districts to bring school budgets in line with property tax revenues, which have plunged with the bursting of the real estate bubble.
"It's like an alcoholic at the end of the night when the bars close, and the solution is to open the bar for another hour," Hess said.
The bill would, for the first time, involve the federal government in a significant fashion in the building and renovation of schools, which has been the responsibility of states and districts. It includes $20 billion for school renovation and modernization, with $14 billion for elementary and secondary schools and $6 billion for higher education. It also includes tax provisions under which the federal government would pay the interest on construction bonds issued by school districts.
Duncan said the bill's school renovation provisions would create a "huge number of construction jobs," because so many school buildings need repairs.
But Representative Howard McKeon, Republican of California and the ranking minority member of the House education committee, said, "By putting the federal government in the business of building schools, Democrats may be irrevocably changing the federal government's role in education in this country."
In higher education, the bill would increase spending on Pell Grants, the most important federal student aid program, to $27 billion from about $19 billion this year.
"It's a very good idea to increase Pell Grants in the stimulus," said Terry Hartle, a senior vice president for public affairs at the American Council on Education, which represents colleges and universities.
But Hartle said that even he was having difficulty tracking all the new spending.
"A lot of things will go through, and only later will we know exactly what happened," he said.
