Amid Crisis, Education Budget Questions Remain.

Amid Crisis, Education Budget Questions Remain. Despite budget and security challenges stemming from the Sept. 11terrorist attacks, Capitol Hill aides and education lobbyists are stillconfident lawmakers will approve a fiscal 2002 spending bill with moremoney for education. The U.S. House of Representatives is working on a spending planthat could provide $3 billion more for education over and above earlierestimates, due to lawmakers' strong interest in the issue. Undersuch a plan, education would receive about a 13 percent fundingincrease, said Edward Kealy, executive director of the Committee forEducation Funding, a Washington, D.C., group representing K-12 andhigher education higher educationStudy beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. . The House originally had proposed an increase of about 8 percent,while the Bush administration's plan sought increases of 4 percentto 6 percent. Still at issue, though, is how to divide the education increaseamong K-12 schools and college-level programs. Most analysts expect K-12to receive the bulk of increases, although programs such as Pell Grants The Pell Grant program is a type of post-secondary, educational federal grant program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. It is named after U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell and originally known as the the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant program. are likely to get increased support as well. "There is bipartisansupport for a significant increase" throughout education. Kealysaid. If this scenario holds up, it will provide better news foreducators than predictions made just after the attacks in New York City New York City:see New York, city. New York CityCity (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. and at the Pentagon. At that time, some lawmakers suggested thatCongress dispense with the annual education spending bill and provide asmall, inflation-tied increase to most programs. Under that plan,lawmakers then could focus most of their energies on defense issuesinstead of education. But that plan held little appeal to senior lawmakers who controlthe purse strings purse stringsor purse��stringspl.n.Financial support or resources, or control over them: the politicians who control federal purse strings; tightened the corporate purse strings. of the powerful House and U.S. Senate appropriationscommittees In the United States government, the Appropriations Committee can refer to either: the United States House Committee on Appropriations the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations , according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Kealy. These senior lawmakers relish theirannual bill-writing responsibilities, which also give education groupsan opportunity to lobby for large increases. Nonetheless, lawmakers ofboth parties know they must keep partisan debates to a minimum. "On education at least, they appear ready to avoidpartisanship," Kealy said. Moreover, some lawmakers also believe clearing the decks on thebudget is the best way to move on to defense and intelligence issues."Getting through the budget process means they can get on to othermatters," said Corye Barbour, legislative director for the UnitedStates Student Association The United States Student Association (USSA), founded in 1947, bills itself as the oldest and largest student association in the United States. It has a historical and current commitment to diversity and breaking the barriers to educational access imposed by inequality and . Congress has not given up hope of concluding negotiations on a K-12reform bill, including provisions that will affect colleges'teacher training programs. The House and Senate postponed a negotiatingsession last week but plan to return to work soon, aides said. One other sliver sliverin wool processing a continuous band of carded and combed wool which has not yet been twisted into yarn. of good news for educators is that the $40 billionCongress gave President Bush for military preparedness pre��par��ed��ness?n.The state of being prepared, especially military readiness for combat.Noun 1. preparedness - the state of having been made ready or prepared for use or action (especially military action); "putting them and cleanupefforts in New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and Washington, D.C., has no direct bearing on the2002 spending deliberations. Congress allocated funds as emergencyspending, Kealy said, which means they do not factor into thecalculations of annual budgets and spending limits. The House had planned to begin consideration of an educationspending bill by late September, a congressional aide said. The Senatehas not yet scheduled a time to mark up its education bill, but actionis possible shortly after the House unveils its bill. "People's attention obviously has been diverted fromeducation over the past days," Barbour said. Yet most advocates aretaking a wait-and-see attitude about what comes next. Added Barbour,"No one's been through anything quite like this."