are being told that we have to do more with less. This message is especially harrowing considering the June 2004 report by the Center on Education Policy that found that NCLB Title I programs aimed at low-income students are only serving about 60 percent of eligible children. The report went on to add that, "The current Title I appropriation of about $12.3 billion is only half of the approximately $24.7 billion it would cost to serve all children counted under the Title I basic formula using the law's own expenditure factors." The proposed program cuts, combined with current educational under-funding, represent a continuation of the Bush agenda of slashing-and-burning public education.
Does the Bush Administration's proposed 2006 budget really speak to educational equality in our country? Absolutely not. And once again we are left with the empty promises of NCLB.
I fear that without programs like Upward Bound, the Betos and Vangies in this country won't have opportunities to go to college. But, if the opportunities are not there, where will they go? Just because the Bush administration expresses absolutely no tangible commitment to helping these students, it doesn't mean they vanish into thin air.
Perhaps that is the ultimate tragedy of a callous education policy like NCLB: No matter how ridiculous the legislation is and how little money is spent, the kids will still be standing there, like Beto and Vangie, demanding to be remembered.