The Bush Education Budget Legacy

Overview & Synopsis

Next week, President George W. Bush will submit his eighth and final budget request to the Congress. How has he fared with respect to education budget proposals thus far? Answer: although President Bush made the No Child Left Behind Act, which deals with elementary and secondary education, the hallmark of his education policy, from a federal education budget standpoint, the Bush administration's most lasting legacy thus far is in higher education. The New America Foundation's Federal Education Budget Project evaluated all the Bush administration's past budget requests and finds that the Bush administration has had relatively little success in enacting its elementary and secondary education budget proposals, but has seen enacted nearly all of its higher education budget proposals, including a major increase in Pell Grant program funding. Key findings are the following: (1) For higher education policy, President Bush successfully used the budget and appropriations process to advance significant reforms; (2) Funding for key federal elementary and secondary education programs increased significantly during President Bush's tenure in office; and (3) However, with the exception of budget proposals directly linked to the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush's efforts to drive elementary and secondary education policy changes through the budget and appropriations process, such as his school voucher and high school reform proposals, have been largely unsuccessful. (Contains 36 endnotes.)