Administration Budget Leaves North Dakota Students Behind

Dear Friend, Last week, President Bush released his fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget request. I am disappointed that the President's budget does not provide any additional funding for the Department of Education over last year. In fact, it actually shortchanges families, students, and teachers by providing $826 million less than what is needed to keep up with inflation. The President's budget does increase funding for some programs such as Title I grants for disadvantaged students, special education, and Pell Grants. However, these increases are more than offset by massive cuts in other programs. Safe and Drug Free Schools, professional development for teachers, and after school programs are all cut significantly. The budget also completely eliminates funding for more than 25 programs that are important to North Dakota's K-12 students, such as Even Start, education technology, and physical education. Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, which provide workforce training for nearly 44,000 North Dakota students each year, would also be completely eliminated. North Dakota could lose more than $4.5 million in federal CTE funding alone. Financial aid for our state's college students, such as Perkins Loans and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, would also be eliminated. As college costs continue to rise, now is not the time to cut efforts to make college more affordable for North Dakota families. The release of the President's budget is only the beginning of the FY 2009 budget and appropriations process. Providing the necessary resources to educate our nation's youth must be one of our nation's top priorities. As Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, it is certainly one of mine. Be assured that I will continue my efforts to ensure North Dakota's educators and schools receive the support they need to provide our students with an excellent education and promising future. Sincerely, KENT CONRAD United States Senate You have received this e-mail because you have signed up for Education Issue Updates. If you do not want to receive future updates, you can remove yourself from this mailing list by visiting my Web page at http://conrad.senate.gov/issues/signup.cfm. Please feel free to forward this e-mail to others who you think would be interested in this information. If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you would like to sign up to receive future updates directly from me, please visit my Web page at http://conrad.senate.gov/issues/signup.cfm.