During a briefing on the proposed fiscal 1985 budget, officials from the Education Department reassured school officials that if they choose to use funds from their Chapter 2 education block grants for reforms like merit-based pay or master-teacher plans, they will not face any issues during future audits. Undersecretary of Education Gary L. Jones stated that local officials have the freedom to use their block-grant money for any educational improvement initiatives, except for construction. However, school districts must also follow federal rules which require them to use federal grants to supplement state and local funds, and not replace them. When asked if Chapter 2 funds could be used for teachers’ salaries, Mr. Jones responded, "On an experimental basis, yes."
The Administration’s proposed budget aims to increase the Chapter 2 appropriation by approximately 50 percent, from $479 million to $729 million. Education Secretary Terrel H. Bell explained that the $250 million increase is intended to help school districts align the recommendations of the National Commission on Excellence in Education with grassroots reform efforts. The excellence commission’s April 1983 report called for various reforms, including master-teacher plans, salary increases for teachers, improved high-school curricula, and more rigorous standards. Some of these recommendations are allowed expenses in the 1981 legislation that consolidated over 40 categorical programs into the education block-grants program. Department officials anticipated questions regarding the legality of using Chapter 2 funds to implement the excellence commission’s recommendations. Secretary Bell expressed confidence in their approach, stating that the law already allows for a broad range of uses for Chapter 2 funds.
Furthermore, the Administration suggests that states can utilize their Chapter 2 funds to support women’s educational-equity and civil-rights training programs. However, the proposed budget does not allocate any specific funds for these programs, which received $5.76 million and $24 million in fiscal year 1984, respectively. It also mentions that local education officials can use their Chapter 2 allotments to finance school-discipline initiatives. The Administration argues that the deterioration of school discipline in urban schools during the 1970s deprived minority children of equal opportunities, and permitting this deterioration to continue would be fundamentally discriminatory. The Administration firmly believes that the right of minority children to equal educational opportunities is being compromised by unsafe and disorderly schools.
In addition to the Education Department’s proposed budget, the budgets for other departments and agencies that are relevant to educators were released last week. This includes the National Science Foundation, which plans to provide $54.7 million for precollegiate science education in fiscal year 1985, the same amount as the previous year.
During a briefing on the proposed budget, Mr. Knapp stood up for the budget that does not promote growth. He argued that the funding level is sufficient to address the issues in science education that have gained attention in recent years. Foundation officials are now awaiting new proposals for fiscal year 1984 programs and are evaluating the ongoing programs. Based on their evaluation, they will decide whether to seek increased funding next year.
The Health and Human Services Department has requested a $1.08 billion appropriation for the Head Start program in its fiscal year 1985 budget. This is a $4 million increase from the current funding level. The program aims to provide comprehensive support and early childhood development for financially disadvantaged preschool children and their families. The focus will be on providing special services for disabled children and improving the abilities of Head Start parents to support the educational and emotional growth of their children. According to budget documents, approximately 24,030 classrooms will offer child care, nutrition, education, health, and other services to around 429,100 children, which is the same number as in fiscal year 1984.
However, the proposal suggests a reduction of $3.3 million, down to $24.7 million, for training, research, demonstration, and evaluation efforts. This funding cut, amounting to approximately 12 percent of the total budget this year, will be used to provide a cost-of-living increase as required by statute for American Indian and migrant projects.
The National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities is requesting a budget of $125.48 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, which is a decrease of more than 10 percent, equivalent to $14.5 million, from the current funding level. It is also nearly $5 million less than what was appropriated by Congress in fiscal year 1983. However, under the proposed budget, the endowment plans to expand summer seminars for secondary school teachers. In 1983, the first 15 summer seminars for high school teachers took place, and for this year, 50 seminars are scheduled at a cost of $3.35 million. The budget proposes allocating $3.5 million to increase the number of seminars to 63 in fiscal year 1985. The funding for programs in the education division of the National Endowment for the Humanities would be reduced from $19 million to $16.1 million, and funds for humanities instruction in elementary and secondary schools would decrease by more than $1 million, from $7.6 million to $6.44 million. The National Endowment for the Arts would experience an approximately 11 percent reduction in funding, from $162.12 million in the current fiscal year to $143.88 million. Additionally, funding for the Institute of Museum Services would decrease by 42 percent, from $20.15 million to $11.61 million.
In the Agriculture Department, the funding for the National School Lunch Program is expected to increase by around $30 million, from an estimated $474 million in fiscal year 1984 to approximately $505 million. Child nutrition programs would receive $4.03 billion in fiscal year 1985, which is an overall increase of more than $119 million from the estimated level of $3.91 billion in the current fiscal year. The department’s proposal includes an increase in administrative grants to states to cover the expenses of income verification for determining eligibility for free and reduced-price meals under the school lunch program. The Administration also seeks an indexed reimbursement rate for the school lunch program, as well as the elimination of the nutrition education and training program. The proposal introduces a nonschool food-assistance grant program that allows states to design and operate their own programs in settings outside of schools. This program would replace the Summer Food Service Program and the Child Care Food Program, with funding set at around $330 million for fiscal year 1985.
The Labor Department’s funding for employment and training programs would decline from approximately $8.3 billion in fiscal year 1984 to about $4.8 billion in fiscal year 1985. The department plans to allocate $1.9 billion in block grants to the states in 1985 for employment and training programs under the Job Training Partnership Act. This allocation would be used to train approximately 1 million people in both 1984 and 1985, according to budget documents.
The objective is to paraphrase the provided text by using better vocabulary and ensuring uniqueness while maintaining natural language. The revised version will be expressed solely in English. Here is the original text for reference:
"Your task is to rewrite the entire text in better words and make it unique with natural language. All output shall be in English."
Your assignment involves rephrasing the entire passage using improved terminology and guaranteeing originality while preserving a natural linguistic style. All resulting content must be presented in the English language.
