DeLauro, Local Administrators Fight Education Cuts in President's Budget

DeLauro, Local Administrators Fight Education Cuts in President's Budget

- Budget cuts college readiness for low-income for students, vocational training -

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) and administrators from the Middletown school district today vowed to fight education cuts in the budget President Bush submitted to Congress last week. The president's budget eliminates funding for the primary TRIO Programs - programs that help low-income and disabled students prepare for college - and funding for vocational education grants to states. The president is shifting this funding to support his high school reform proposal.

"By giving young people the tools they need to further their education and advance in an increasingly competitive world, these programs make opportunity real for students," said DeLauro. "With proven results in the last 40 years, TRIO programs have allowed countless students nationwide and here in Middletown to attend college when they might not have. Eliminating funding for these effective programs will deny this opportunity to far too many students."

Since it was established in 1965, an estimated 2 million students have graduated from college with the special assistance and support of the TRIO Programs. Students in the Upward Bound program are four times more likely to earn an undergraduate degree than those students from similar backgrounds who do not participate in TRIO.

Upward Bound serves high school students from low-income families, high school students from families in which neither parent holds a bachelor's degree, and low-income, first-generation military veterans who are preparing to enter postsecondary education. The goal of Upward Bound is to increase the rates at which participants enroll in and graduate from institutions of postsecondary education. This goal is accomplished through instruction in math, laboratory science, composition, literature, and foreign language, among other issues. Wesleyan University offers Upward Bound through Middletown High School.

Upward Bound kicked off the TRIO initiative with the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. That was followed by the original Higher Education Act of 1965, which created the Talent Search program. With the first reauthorization of the Higher Education Act in 1968, Special Services was created. By 1968, the original TRIO programs had been created - Upward Bound, Talent Search and Special Services.

Talent Search programs serve young people in grades six through 12 and provide counseling to students and information about college admissions requirements, scholarships and various student financial aid programs. This early intervention program helps people from families with incomes under $24,000 where neither parent graduated from college to better understand their educational opportunities and options. A combined 2,875 Connecticut students are enrolled in the Talent Search and Upward Bound programs.

"Just two weeks after the president declared in the State of the Union that we must work to increase our competitiveness, he introduced a budget to Congress that actually restricts this opportunity for students," continued DeLauro. "The president is replacing programs with a proven track record of success with a proposal to implement the No Child Left Behind Act in high schools - a regulation that has met with little success in elementary schools."

In addition to the cuts to TRIO programs, the president's budget also eliminates funding to vocational education, which provides important training and education opportunities to students in high schools and community colleges. The current system supports training and education in cutting edge fields of health care, technology and others. This funding will destroy innovative career and technical education programs for students seeking a career alternative to college.

This is the second year in a row that President Bush's budget cuts overall funding for education.

http://www.house.gov/delauro/press/2006/February/fighting_ed_cuts_2_13_06.html