AIP FYI#22: FY 2006 Budget Request for Science Education Programs

The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News
Number 22: February 14, 2005

FY 2006 Budget Request for Science Education Programs

The Department of Education’s Mathematics and Science Partnership
program would grow by more than 50 percent under President Bush’s FY
2006 budget request, but a substantial portion of the program’s
funding would be targeted strictly to improving secondary school
mathematics. At NSF, the foundation’s Mathematics and Science
Partnership program would be cut by almost 25 percent, with no
funding for new awards in FY 2006.

Both the NSF and Education Department Mathematics and Science
Partnerships (MSPs) are intended to improve science and math
education through partnerships among states, school districts,
university science or math departments, and other eligible
partners. The NSF MSPs fund merit-based grants to develop model
programs and best practices; the Education Department MSPs provide
funding to states by formula grant, to be distributed to
partnerships that include high-need school districts.

NSF EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES

Within NSF, the total Education and Human Resources (EHR) budget
would decline 12.4%, or $104.42 million, from $841.42 million to
$737.00 million. Details of the EHR request can be found at
http://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2006/toc.htm under “Directorate
Summaries: Education and Human Resources.”

Mathematics and Science Partnerships: Down 24.4%, or $19.36
million, from $79.36 million to $60.00 million. Regarding NSF’s
Math and Science Partnership program, NSF budget documents note that
the FY 2006 funding would support “awards made in previous years,
plus data collection, evaluation, knowledge management and
dissemination. No new partnership awards will be made in FY 2006.”

EPSCoR: Up 0.3%, or $0.32 million, from $93.68 million to $94.00
million. The request says, “EPSCoR is funded at a similar level to
the FY 2005 Current Plan.”

Elementary, Secondary and Informal Education: Down 22.6%, or $41.15
million, from $181.95 million to $140.80 million. According to NSF
budget documents, major changes in ESIE include reductions to the
Teacher Professional Continuum program; the Instructional Materials
Development program; Curricula evaluations and materials
development; and the Centers for Learning and Teaching program.

Undergraduate Education: Down 12.1%, or $18.67 million, from
$153.67 million to $135.00 million. Major changes include
reductions to the Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement
program; the Federal Cyber Service: Scholarship for Service program;
and the National STEM Education Digital Library. The Director’s
Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars would be discontinued. An
increase would be provided for the Higher Education Centers for
Learning and Teaching.

Graduate Education: Up 0.2%, or $0.30 million, from $154.70 million
to $155.0 million. The request states, “Increased funding will be
distributed equally among the Graduate Research Fellowship Program,
the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program,
and the Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education program.”

Human Resource Development: Down 0.1%, or $0.14 million, from
$118.54 million to $118.40 million. No funds would be requested for
the Model Institutions for Excellence; MIE funds would be
“reallocated to the Centers of Research Excellence in Science and
Technology.”

Research, Evaluation and Communication: Down 43.2%, or $25.72
million, from $59.52 million to $33.80 million. The FY 2006 request
would “continue support for awards made in FY 2005 and earlier
years. No new awards are expected in FY 2006.”

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Mathematics and Science Partnerships: Up 51.0%, or $90.4 million,
from $178.6 million to $269.0 million. The request would target
$120.0 million of the MSP funds to secondary math. A similar
attempt was made in last year’s request, but did not survive through
the congressional appropriations process. The Education
Department’s budget request states: “Combined with existing funding,
this increase would support the President’s high school reform
strategy by funding $120 million in competitive grants to accelerate
the mathematics learning of secondary school students, especially
those who are at risk of dropping out of school because they lack
basic skills in mathematics…. Current partnerships focus on
developing rigorous mathematics and science curricula, distance
learning programs, and incentives to recruit college graduates with
degrees in math and science into the teaching profession. However,
continuing evidence of low mathematics achievement on both the
National Assessment of Educational Progress and multiple
international assessments justifies a stronger, more targeted
emphasis on high school mathematics.”

According to Education Department budget documents, other highlights
of the budget for elementary and secondary education programs
include the following:

“A $22 million increase for the Advanced Placement program to expand
the availability of Advanced Placement and International
Baccalaureate programs in schools with large populations of
low-income students and to train teachers for those programs.”

“$12 million for State Scholars Capacity Building to increase the
number of States implementing State Scholars programs, which
encourage high school students to complete a rigorous four-year
course of study.”

“$500 million for a new Teacher Incentive Fund, which would provide
formula grants to reward effective teachers and create incentives to
attract qualified teachers to high-need schools, as well as
competitive grants to design and implement performance-based
compensation systems that change the way school districts pay
teachers.”

“$2.92 billion [equal to current-year funding] for Improving Teacher
Quality State Grants to help States ensure that all teachers of core
academic subjects are highly qualified.”

Further information on the FY 2006 budget request for the Department
of Education’s elementary and secondary education programs can be
found at:
http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget06/summary/index.html
under “Elementary and Secondary Education.”

Audrey T. Leath

Media and Government Relations Division

The American Institute of Physics

fyi@aip.org

www.aip.org/gov

(301) 209-3094