Administration Defaults on Promise to Leave No Child Behind
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 1/8/2003
Civil rights advocates have given the "No Child Left Behind" Act an "I" for Incomplete and are urging Congress to fund the new law at its authorized levels. Overall, President Bush's FY 2003 budget would fall more than $7 billion short of the amounts promised in the Act, which funds, among other things, the Title I program targeted to low-income schools. The President's proposed FY 2004 budget plan would underfund Title I at $12.3 billion instead of the $18.5 billion level authorized by Congress last year.Said Wade Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, "The intent of this law is in its title - to leave no child behind. If we are serious about accomplishing that goal, the resources for implementing reforms need to be provided."
Calling on Congress and the Administration to keep America's neediest children as a priority as Congress finalizes the FY 2003 education budget and prepares to work on the FY 2004 budget in the coming months, Henderson added, "This nation is founded on the principle that everyone-regardless of income-deserves access to a quality public education. We need to work together to make sure this noble goal is realized before it's too late for our children."
