District Opposes Education Cuts in Federal Budget Act

The Glendora Unified School District voted Monday to join the National School Boards Association in urging Congress to keep education programs out of the proposed $1.2 trillion in across-the-board cuts to federal programs in the Budget Control Act of 2011.

The act proposes an 8.2 percent cut in education over a 10-year period starting in January 2013.

“You never know what Congress is going to do. If they go over that cliff in January, it will be terrible for the whole country – my view,” said Glendora Unified School Board President Doris Blum. “If the National School Boards Association can have enough clout to get this out of sequestration before January, it would be helpful.”

The cuts would affect federally-funded programs under Title I and Title II, and special education programs.

According to EdWeek.com, Title I funding is "used to provide educational services to students who are educationally disadvantaged or at risk of failing to meet state standards." Part of the No Child Left Behind Act, it allocated $12.3 billion in fiscal year 2004 to close the achievement gap between those populations of students.

EducationSector.org reports that Title II funding provided $3 billion for schools to promote teacher and principal quality, provide staff development, and reduce class sizes.

Glendora Unified and other public schools in the country could see an estimated $2.7 billion loss from the Title I grants, special education grants for the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act and Head Start.

According to Glendora Unified documents, the proposed cuts could result in “larger class sizes, fewer course offerings, possible four-day school weeks, loss of extracurricular activities, and teacher and staff-layoffs.”