Giving Every Child a World-Class Education

We now face a make-or-break moment for the middle class and those trying to reach it.
After decades of eroding middle-class security as those at the very top saw their incomes
rise as never before and after a historic recession that plunged our economy into a crisis
from which we are still fighting to recover, it is time to build an economy that is built to
last. The Presidents 2013 Budget is built around the idea that our country does best when
everyone gets a fair shot, does their fair share, and plays by the same rules. We must
transform our economy from one focused on speculating, spending, and borrowing to one
constructed on the solid foundation of educating, innovating, and building. That begins
with putting the Nation on a path to live within our means by cutting wasteful spending,
asking all Americans to shoulder their fair share, and making tough choices on some
things we cannot afford, while keeping the investments we need to grow the economy
and create jobs. The Budget targets scarce federal resources to the areas critical to
growing the economy and restoring middle-class security: education and skills for
American workers, innovation and research and development, clean energy, and
infrastructure. The Budget is a blueprint for how we can rebuild and economy where hard
work pays off and responsibility is rewarded.

To ensure that every child has access to a world-class education, the 2013 Budget will:

Support High-Quality Early Childhood Programs. Because effective investment in
early childhood is so critical to childrens ability to reach their full potential and the
Nations future economic health, the Budget includes over $8 billion for Head Start and
Early Head Start to serve approximately 962,000 children and families, maintaining the
historic expansion undertaken with Recovery Act funds, and supporting implementation
of new regulations to strengthen Head Start by requiring low-performing programs to
compete for funding for the first time. The Budget similarly includes over $6 billion for
the Child Care and Development Fund, an additional $825 million, to support 1.5 million
children with child care subsidies. At the same time, the Budget invests in improved
quality, proposing principles for child care reform that focus on improving quality,
protecting health and safety, and strengthening early learning. The Budget also supports
deepening the Administrations investment in Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge,
a program that in 2011 awarded nine grants to States committed to ambitious efforts to
build statewide systems of high-quality early learning and development programs
intended to close the school readiness gap.

Invest in the Next Generation of Scientists and Engineers. Students need to be able to
solve problems, apply appropriate technologies, and design solutions skills honed by
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. We have seen
other nations eclipse ours in preparing their children in these critical fields. To enable our
students to thrive, schools need effective STEM educators. The Budget includes $80
million in the Department of Education to expand promising and effective models of
teacher preparation and funds a jointly administered mathematics education initiative,
with $30 million from the Department of Education and $30 million from the National
Science Foundation, to support evidenced-based approaches to improve student learning
at the K-12 and undergraduate levels. These programs will be developed in conjunction
with a Government-wide effort to improve the impact of Federal investments in math and
science education by ensuring that all programs supporting K-12 and undergraduate
education adhere to consistent standards of effectiveness.

Encourage Innovation and Support Success in Education. The Budget funds several
efforts that give States and school districts the flexibility to compete for funding to
develop innovative approaches or further improve and expand effective programs that
achieve better outcomes for their students. Specifically, the Budget provides $150 million
to continue the Investing in Innovation program to test, validate, and scale up effective
approaches to student learning; $355 million to expand educational options by helping
grow effective charter schools, magnet schools, and other innovative and autonomous
public schools that achieve positive results and give parents more choices; and $850
million in new funding for the successful Race to the Top (RTT) program to continue
driving comprehensive reform at the State and district level.

Reform Elementary and Secondary School Education. Too often, education funds are
allocated based on factors that are not tied to success or the goals we need to reach to
educate our children for active citizenship and for the jobs of tomorrow. The
Administration has advanced a reauthorization proposal for the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that would support a bold restructuring of K-12
funding by focusing all funding around the Nations most critical educational goals and
consolidating narrow programs into broader authorities. Specifically, we want to
encourage States to adopt higher, clearer standards; to support dramatic improvements in
the quality of assessments; and to recognize and reward schools for helping students
make important gains. Our proposal also offers new flexibility for successful States and
districts to pursue solutions to help all students graduate from high school, college- and
career-ready.

Grant Flexibility in Exchange for Smart Reforms. To build on the successful reforms
leveraged by the first RTT competition, the Department recently invited States to apply
for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) waivers in exchange for a commit-
ment to implement comprehensive reforms. The Budget maintains investments in key
programs that States can use to advance these reforms. For example, States and districts
will have new flexibility to use Title I funds that were previously required to be reserved
for supplemental educational services, public school choice, and professional
development to support locally determined, rigorous interventions in schools.
Drive Comprehensive State and District-Level Education Improvement. The Budget
provides $850 million for RTT, a program that has enabled States to implement systemic
reforms in five fundamental areas: implementing rigorous standards and assessments;
using data to improve instruction and decision-making; recruiting and retaining effective
teachers and principals; turning around the lowest-performing schools; and improving
State systems of early learning and care. In 2011, RTT was expanded to include the Early
Learning Challenge grant competition, a joint effort with the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS), designed to support the States with the most ambitious plans to
ensure that high-needs children from birth to age five enter kindergarten ready to
succeed. In 2012, the Administration is building on the State-level progress of RTT by
launching a district-level competition to support reforms best executed at the local level.
In 2013, RTT will be poised to deepen our investments in these various areas and address
the unmet demand of States and districts that have demonstrated a commitment to
implementing comprehensive and ambitious reform. Additional resources will be
provided for the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge, to be paired with new
investments by HHS in improving child care quality and preparing children for success in
school.

Eliminate and Consolidate Narrow Education Programs. Over the years, numerous
small programs have been created to deliver education funding, yet many of them have
not been evaluated for efficacy or have not been proven to make a difference. We have a
responsibility to spend every dollar as effectively as possible. The Presidents Budget
consolidates 38 K-12 authorities into 11 new programs that emphasize using competition
to allocate funds, giving communities more choices around activities, and using rigorous
evidence to fund what works. The Administration's proposal also includes provisions to
ensure that new grant competitions result in an equitable geographic distribution of funds
nationwide, including to rural communities.

Attract, Prepare, Support, and Reward Great Teachers. The Budget provides $400
million in the Teacher and Leader Innovation Fund, a competitive grant program to
transform teacher and leader evaluation systems to reward strong teaching and support
improvement, and $2.5 billion for an overhauled teacher quality formula grant, including
a 25 percent set-aside build evidence on ways to best recruit, prepare and support
effective teachers and principals. The President is also asking for a new $5 billion
competitive program that will challenge states and districts to work with their teachers
and unions to comprehensively reform the teaching profession by: reforming colleges of
education and raising the bar for entry into the profession; creating new career ladders
and ensuring that earnings are tied more closely to performance; establishing more
leadership roles and responsibilities for teachers; improving professional development
and time for collaboration among teachers; creating evaluation systems based on multiple
measures, including data on student achievement; reshaping tenure to raise the bar,
protect good teachers, and promote accountability.

Prepare Students for College. The Budget includes $100 million for Promise
Neighborhoods, an initiative modeled after the Harlem Childrens Zone, which aims to
improve college going rates by combining a rigorous K-12 education with a full network
of supportive services in an entire neighborhood. This initiative would support
comprehensive programs that address the needs of children and youth in a targeted area
from before they are born until they attend college.

Increase Funding for the Education of Children with Disabilities. The Budget
provides $11.6 billion for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Grants
to States to provide a high quality education and help offset State and local education
costs for children with disabilities. The Budget also provides a $20 million (five percent)
increase for the IDEA Infants and Families Program to provide the youngest children a
good start. In addition, the Budget provides $30 million, a $28 million increase over
2012, for PROMISE (Promoting Readiness of Minors in SSI) a four agency joint pilot,
to fund and evaluate innovative approaches to improving outcomes of children receiving
Supplemental Security Income and their families.