Bush recommending cuts in education spending after '05 : "President Bush, while promoting proposals to boost federal education spending next year, plans to pare back spending on schools in subsequent years, budget figures show. ...'Education is already underfunded in these budgets, and in fact 37 programs will be zeroed out in '05,' said John See, spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers. 'It will just get worse.'
The White House is proposing an education budget increase from $63.26 billion to $66.4 billion next year, although some school programs would get bigger increases than others. The numbers include mandatory as well as discretionary spending authority. But the total would immediately drop in 2006 and would fall to $63.6 billion by 2007.
That's less than 1 percent above current spending, so with inflation it would represent a decrease. It's also 4 percent less than Bush's much-touted increase for 2005. "