A Closer Look at Obama’s FY11 Budget: Literacy Programs

The Obama administration is proposing an increase in funding – and some significant changes – to federal literacy programs in the 2011 fiscal year, which begins October 1, 2010. The changes are part of proposals submitted by President Obama in his budget request in February, and they could have a significant impact on literacy groups that depend on federal grants. They also signal a renewed interest in funding programs that offer literacy instruction — though it’s unclear yet whether that will translate into more or better programs for children in their earliest years.

<div>Instead of maintaining funding streams for multiple existing literacy programs, the Obama budget requests $450 million for a new catchall program to support literacy instruction that would be categorized under a new “Effective Teaching and Learning” category that the department plans to create. Importantly, it would apply to pre-kindergarten (note the “pre”) through grade 12.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>“We’re trying to move away from small silo-ed programs,” said Judy Wurtzler, deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development. “We think fewer, more flexible programs make sense.”</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>Here are the programs that would be grouped together under this new heading in the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget11/index.html">Department of Education’s budget</a> for fiscal year 2011. We at <i>Early Ed Watch</i> think that consolidating programs is a wise move, as long as the restructured program is flexible enough to consider multiple approaches for early literacy instruction that come with evidence of helping children learn to read.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <table style="width: 278px; height: 206px;" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">  <tbody><tr>   <td valign="top" width="274"><div style="text-align: left;">Effective Teaching   and Learning: Literacy Programs</div>   <div align="center">&nbsp;</div></td>  </tr>  <tr>   <td valign="top" width="274"><div>Early Reading First</div>   <div>Striving Readers</div>   <div>Even Start</div>   <div>Literacy Through School   Libraries</div>   <div>National Writing Project</div>   <div>Reading is Fundamental</div>   <div>Ready –to-Learn Television</div></td>  </tr> </tbody></table>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>In fiscal year 2009, Congress approved $308 million for these literacy programs, and for the current fiscal year, it raised the amount to $413 million. The new proposal would add $37 million more in the upcoming fiscal year and build onto revisions to the Striving Readers program that were started this year.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The increase in support for literacy programs is welcome, especially after funding for the controversial Reading First program was cut in 2008 and many districts were left wondering how to pay for the extra reading instruction many students need.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>This bar graph, based on data from department budget summaries, provides a sense of how the federal funding for literacy programs has grown recently:</div><div><img src="/downloads/federal_literacy_funding_08-11.JPG" alt=""></div>  <div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</div>    <div>It encouraging to see that the budget recognizes the need to include pre-kindergarten programs. This inclusion of pre-K is also evident in the Obama Administration’s proposals for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, now known simply as “<a href="http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/index.html">The Blueprint</a>” in education circles. In fact,&nbsp;it’s one of the few places where pre-K is mentioned. The Blueprint envisions a competitive grant program in which “states will be required to develop comprehensive, evidence-based, preK–12 literacy plans and to align federal, state, and local funds to provide high-quality literacy instruction.”</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>The inclusion of pre-K is also part of the LEARN Act, a bill that was introduced last fall and that is likely to be inserted into the larger Elementary and Secondary Education Act that is under debate now. There’s a lot to like about the LEARN Act, as <a href="http://www.newamerica.net/blog/early-ed-watch/2009/comprehensive-literacy-legislation-introduced-senate-15980">Sara Mead’s post</a> explained last November, though we wish that it could be tweaked to envision the early years as birth to age 8, instead of reinforcing the divide between “birth to 5” programs and what happens in elementary school. As it is currently written, the LEARN Act would divvy up the literacy dollars so that 10 percent go to “birth to 5” programs, 40 percent are for programs in kindergarten through fifth grade, another 40 percent go to the upper grades, and the remaining 10 percent are dedicated to statewide activities.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>Zooming out for a moment, let's consider how the current budget request and the LEARN Act may compare to the federal Reading Excellence program of a decade ago. In the school year 2001-2002, that program received as much as $302 million, according to <a href="http://frwebgate3.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/PDFgate.cgi?WAISdocID=59231614441+0+2+0&amp;WAISaction=retrieve">old budget</a> <a href="http://frwebgate6.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/PDFgate.cgi?WAISdocID=589972441801+0+2+0&amp;WAISaction=retrieve">summaries</a>, and it was entirely focused on the early grades. That equates to about $370 million in today's dollars (<a href="http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl">adjusting for inflation</a>), which isn't too far from what the federal government is spending now on the full swath of the pre-K-12 spectrum&nbsp;. Given what we know about the importance of children learning to read by third grade, we cannot help but ask: Depending on how this newly consolidated pot of money is portioned out -- and depending on whether Congress will fund what Obama requests -- could the government find itself spending less on literacy programs in pre-K and the early grades than it did 10 years ago?</div><div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>Funding aside, the proposed structure for organizing literacy programs and awarding grants is distressing to some non-profit organizations.&nbsp;Reading is Fundamental, a group that distributes free books to children, and the National Writing Project were the subject of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/education/09grants.html?scp=1&amp;sq=%2522reading%20is%20fundamental:&amp;st=cse">a recent New York Times story</a> in which they expressed concern that they would suddenly have to compete for federal funds through state-led efforts. Would this mean that they would have to apply for, say, 50 different grants to be able to serve children in 50 different states? Until now they have received one federal grant and had the flexibility to use it across the country.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>Depending on how it works, the new structure could also mean that The Ready to Learn Television program would have a broader set of competitors when it goes for new grants. The program is currently responsible for the remake of <i>The Electric Company</i> as well as new programs like <i>Super Why </i>and <i>World World </i>for preschoolers, which <a href="http://www.newamerica.net/blog/early-ed-watch/2009/ready-learn-results-children-gain-reading-skills-two-pbs-shows-12206">research has shown to make an impact</a>. Would it be competing against literacy programs that don’t have a media or television angle? Would it mean that grants for national television or Internet programs would have to be approved on a state-by-state basis? The FY11 budget summary makes plain that the administration supports “high-quality, digital educational content for children.”&nbsp;But the uneasiness remains. “We’re worried,” said Lesli Rotenberg, senior vice president for children's media at PBS.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>Some text within the budget summary’s description of the restructuring might assuage a few of these concerns. It mentions a “national activities” category, which “would include a competition to create high-quality, digital educational content” and support agencies such as the Public Broadcasting Service.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>Could this national activities framework be a salve for national organizations that are worried about having to submit separate applications for funding in each state? “We would certainly be open to a national activities program that would allow for competitions for national activities,” Wurtzler told <em>Early Ed Watch</em>. “We see that as a possible way to go forward.”</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>It’s impossible to predict exactly what changes are in store, of course, until the appropriations process gets started this summer. (See this handy&nbsp;<a href="http://edmoney.newamerica.net/publications/policy/2010_education_appropriations_guide">New America brief for a primer on how the appropriations process works</a>.) Each year, the goal is to pass an appropriations bill by October 1<sup>st</sup>. We’ll see whether election-year politics puts a snag in those plans this year.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>