[Economic Outlook, Highlights from FY 1994 to FY 2001, FY 2002 Baseline Projections]
[III. Major Functions of the Federal Government]
[11. Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]
[[Page 133]]
11. EDUCATION, TRAINING, EMPLOYMENT, AND SOCIAL SERVICES
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 11-1. Federal Resources in Support of Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services
(Dollar amounts in millions)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Percent
Function 500 1993 2001 Change:
Actual Estimate 1993-2001
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spending:
Discretionary budget authority............................................ 38,192 61,121 60%
Mandatory outlays......................................................... 13,548 10,737 -21%
Credit Activity:
Direct loan disbursements................................................ 2,701 19,060 NA
Guaranteed loans......................................................... 14,751 28,238 91%
Tax expenditures............................................................ 21,855 59,450 172%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NA = Not applicable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
President Clinton has made increased support for elementary and
secondary education and expanded access to postsecondary training the
hallmark of his Administration. The President's education strategy is
simple and straightforward--we must invest more in our schools and
demand more in return. Over the past eight years, Federal spending for
all levels of education and training has increased dramatically, tax-
advantaged support for education has been expanded to reach more people,
and access to student aid has been broadened while the cost of repaying
loans has been reduced and made more flexible. Taken together, the
improvements and expansions in the range of support for education and
training is unprecedented, and has put postsecondary training within
reach of almost anyone who wants it. In 2001, discretionary spending for
education, training, and social services programs is $61 billion, 60
percent above the level when the Clinton-Gore Administration took
office, while direct loans have increased sevenfold, guaranteed loans
have nearly doubled, and tax expenditures have more than doubled. (See
Table 11-2.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 11-2. Selected Education, Training, and Related Programs
(In millions of dollars)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1993 2001 Change:
Actual Enacted 1993-2001
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TAX EXPENDITURES:
Hope Scholarships Credit......... .......... 4,480 4,480
Lifetime Learning Credit......... .......... 2,570 2,570
Student Loan Interest Deduction.. .......... 370 370
DISCRETIONARY BUDGET AUTHORITY:
Department of Education:..........
Title I--Education for the 6,709 9,533 2,824
Disadvantaged/Accountability...
Eisenhower Teacher Quality and 275 567 292
Professional Development.......
Class Size Reduction........... .......... 1,623 1,623
21st Century Community Learning .......... 846 846
Centers........................
School Renovation.............. .......... 1,200 1,200
Special Education.............. 2,966 7,440 4,474
Education Technology........... 23 872 849
Bilingual and Immigrant 237 460 223
Education......................
Charter Schools................ .......... 190 190
Safe and Drug-Free Schools and 582 644 62
Communities....................
Adult Education................ 305 561 256
Pell Grants.................... 6,372 8,756 2,384
Pell Grant maximum award (in 2,300 3,750 1,450
dollars).......................
Federal Work-Study............. 617 1,011 394
GEAR UP........................ NA 295 295
TRIO........................... 388 730 342
Department of Labor:
Youth Opportunity Grants......... .......... 275 275
Responsible Reintegration for .......... 55 55
Young Offenders..................
Job Corps........................ 966 1,400 434
Dislocated Worker Assistance..... 651 1,590 939
Department of Health and Human
Services:
Head Start....................... 2,776 6,200 3,424
Administration on Aging.......... 839 1,103 264
National Service:
Corporation for National and 284 767 483
Community Service................
Cultural Agencies:
Smithsonian Institution.......... 344 455 111
National Endowment for the Arts... 174 105 -69
National Endowment for the 177 120 -57
Humanities.......................
STUDENT LOANS (face value of loans
issued):
Direct Loans...................... NA 10,860 10,860
Guaranteed Loans.................. 15,993 23,903 7,910
Consolidated Loans................ 1,487 14,238 12,751
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NA = Not applicable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Elementary and Secondary Education
Federal spending for elementary and secondary education addresses
important national needs, such as equal opportunity and the use of
challenging academic standards, to improve student achievement. Most
low-performing children in high-poverty schools receive extra
educational assistance through the Title I (Education for the
Disadvantaged) program. Other programs provide related support for
children with disabilities and limited English proficiency; fund teacher
and administrator training; help finance and encourage State, district,
and school reforms; help reduce class sizes; and, support research and
technical assistance. The Administration's long-term goal has been to
help all children, especially low-income and minority children, raise
their levels of achievement so that they can meet challenging academic
standards.
Through the Goals 2000: Educate America Act and Improving America's
Schools Act (IASA), the Federal focus in K-12 education began to change
in 1994 from supporting individual programs to emphasizing school-wide
and school system reforms based on challenging academic standards for
all
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students. These laws support State and local standards-based reform
efforts, promote the use of technology in education to improve learning,
and help upgrade the quality of teaching. This new approach to education
helped free States and schools from unnecessary Federal process
restrictions, providing greater flexibility while requiring more
accountability for results. Early results show that the standards-based
reform coupled with strong accountability is having a significant
impact. For example, all but one State has content standards in at least
reading and math, compared to only 14 States before Goals 2000 and IASA.
And, in States that have fully implemented these types of reforms,
student achievement is on the rise, particularly among poor and minority
children.
In addition to creating a new framework for reform through standards
and accountability, this Administration launched several initiatives to
ensure that all students have the opportunity to achieve to high
standards.
[[Page 135]]
The Class Size Reduction, 21st Century Community Learning Centers,
Reading Excellence, and technology initiatives all invested Federal
dollars in effective approaches to improving achievement through
smaller, more individualized classes, extra learning time, early
literacy efforts, and educational technology so that students master the
skills and material they need to succeed in school. In addition, the
Administration initiated a School Renovation program to help local
school districts make urgently-needed repairs to their classrooms and
ensure that students have a safe place to learn.
Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies (Education for the
Disadvantaged): Title I helps over 12 million disadvantaged students in
46,000 high-poverty schools master the basics and achieve to the same
high standards as other students. As a result of revisions that this
Administration proposed for the program in 1994, Title I now holds
disadvantaged students to high academic standards, requires that testing
and teaching reflect those standards, and holds schools accountable for
improvements. These are precisely the reforms that a 1998 RAND study of
North Carolina and Texas credits with producing rapid achievement gains
in those States and reversing decades of low expectations for
disadvantaged students. Funded at $6.1 billion in 1993, Title I received
a total of $8.6 billion in 2001, a 41-percent increase. In 2000, the
Administration initiated the Title I Accountability Fund to help
districts identify failing schools, intervene with proven strategies,
and report on their results. The Fund provides $225 million in grants in
2001.
The reforms launched in 1994, coupled with the increased funding, have
helped schools implement more effective programs. For example, 54
percent of all Title I elementary schools now have after-school programs
to extend learning time rather than taking students out of the regular
classroom for assistance. In 1994, only nine percent of Title I
elementary schools had before- or after-school programs. The most recent
data available suggest progress among students most likely to be served
by the Administration's Title I reforms, including:
Reading and math scores for nine-year olds in our highest
poverty schools (75 percent or higher poverty) rose by nearly
a grade level between 1992 and 1996.
Between 1994 and 1998, the lowest-achieving fourth-graders
showed substantial gains in reading, largely accounting for
the rise in the average reading score among all fourth-graders
nationally.
Teacher Quality and Professional Development: Funding for the
Eisenhower Professional Development State Grants, the largest Federal
program dedicated to providing teacher training, has nearly doubled from
$246 million when President Clinton took office to $485 million in 2001.
This Administration has paired this investment in teacher quality with
its leadership in promoting high-quality professional development that
prepares teachers to meet the high academic standards adopted by nearly
all States and districts. In addition, this Administration has supported
innovative teacher recruitment and recognition strategies to improve
public school education. In 1994, it created the Troops to Teachers
program, which has proved successful in helping skilled and experienced
military service members become teachers in high-poverty schools. This
Administration also has strongly supported the National Board for
Professional Teaching Standards, thus helping to raise the number of
teachers meeting standards of national excellence from 282 in 1995 to
9,498 in 2000.
In addition, this Administration has taken the lead on extending
teacher preparation to pre-school professionals by securing funding in
2001 for the Early Childhood Educator Professional Development program.
The 2001 enacted level also provides new funding for recruitment efforts
to improve teacher quality by attracting recent college graduates with
outstanding academic records to become fully qualified teachers through
nontraditional routes.
Class Size Reduction: In 1999, President Clinton launched an
initiative to reduce class sizes in the early grades to an average of 18
students by 2005. First funded at $1.2 billion, this initiative will
help communities recruit, hire, and train 100,000 qualified teachers to
provide more individualized attention in the grades when students are
building their
[[Page 136]]
foundation for learning. Already, an estimated 29,000 teachers have been
hired, and at the 2001 level of $1.6 billion, approximately 8,000 more
teachers are being added. Research shows that students in smaller
classes outperform their peers in larger classes, and that this is
particularly true for minorities and students in inner-city schools.
Initial reports for the Federal program are positive, including:
In the grades and schools in which Class Size Reduction
teachers have been hired, districts report that class sizes
have dropped from an average of 23 to 18.
Hiring 29,000 teachers has reduced class sizes for some 61,000
additional teachers and a total of 1.7 million students in
23,000 schools.
Anecdotal reports from districts show improvements in student
achievement. For example, in Washington, D.C., participating
schools have increased the percentage of students reading
above the basic level.
21st Century Community Learning Centers/After School Programs:
Initiated as a $1 million demonstration program in 1995, 21st Century
Community Learning Centers was expanded to be an $846 million initiative
by this Administration in 2001 to help students have a safe, supervised
place to continue learning before and after school and during the
summer. The program provides grants to public schools, which generally
partner with community-based organizations, to provide tutoring,
homework assistance, enrichment opportunities, and recreational
activities for children and adults in urban and rural communities. Many
school districts make the program part of a comprehensive approach to
turning around troubled schools by providing children the extra help
they need to meet challenging academic standards. Extended learning time
has not only been shown to increase achievement in reading and math, but
to decrease youth violence and drug use. The 2001 level will support
about 6,700 centers serving approximately 1.3 million children.
Reading Excellence: A student's most basic skill to master is reading.
Although reading problems can be particularly severe for disadvantaged
students, students with reading difficulties represent a cross-section
of American children. On the 1994 National Assessment of Educational
Progress, 40 percent of fourth-graders failed to reach the ``basic''
reading level and only 30 percent attained the ``proficient'' level. In
1997, this Administration launched the America Reads Challenge to
provide extra help to meet the goal that every child will read well and
independently by the end of the third grade, and obtained enactment of
new legislation--the Reading Excellence Act (REA)--that began funding
State and local programs on July 1, 1999.
REA supports competitive grants to high-poverty schools to improve the
teaching and learning of reading. Seventeen States received three-year
REA grants with 1999 funds, and 10 more received grants from 2000 funds.
With the $286 million available for 2001, all the remaining States and
territories are expected to receive grants, bringing the number of
children served to 1.1 million.
In response to the America Reads Challenge, more than 1,400 colleges
have committed nearly 27,000 Federal Work-Study students to tutor
children in reading. In addition, each college or university that
participates in the Federal Work-Study program must include at least one
tutoring or family literacy project as part of its community service
activities, giving priority to the employment of work-study students as
reading tutors in schools participating in reading reform efforts.
School Renovation: About one-quarter of the Nation's school districts
report that at least one building is in less than adequate condition,
and one-fifth rate the condition of their life-safety features (e.g.,
fire alarms and sprinkler systems) as less than adequate. Based on
President Clinton's proposal to provide funds to help local school
districts make critical facilities repairs, the 2001 appropriation
included authorization and funding for a new $1.2 billion program
including funds for emergency repairs to schools. Projects may include
fire and safety code repairs and repairs to roofs, plumbing, and
electrical systems. The program includes a $25 million demonstration
that will support innovative financing methods to help charter schools
meet their facilities needs. Federal support for school construction
[[Page 137]]
is also provided through Qualified Zone Academy Bonds, which are
discussed in the Tax Incentives paragraph of this section.
Special Education: Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA), the Education Department works with States to ensure that
more than six million children with disabilities receive a ``free
appropriate public education.'' During this Administration, Federal
support for special education programs authorized under the IDEA
increased by more than 150 percent, from nearly $3.0 billion in 1993 to
$7.4 billion in 2001, and the Federal share of special education costs
increased from eight percent to 15 percent.
In 1997, the IDEA reauthorization focused attention not only on
guaranteeing access to public schools, but also on ensuring that
students with disabilities receive a high-quality education based on the
same challenging standards as their nondisabled peers. As of July 1,
1998, all States were required to have performance goals and strategies
in place for students with disabilities aged three to 21, and to report
their progress toward meeting those goals on a biennial basis. By July
1, 2000, all States were required to include special education children
in State and district-wide regular assessments or provide alternate
assessments to measure educational performance. Based on the latest data
available, during this Administration:
The number and percentage of students with disabilities who
leave high school with a regular diploma has increased from
114,000, or 52 percent, of all students with disabilities in
1994, the earliest year comparable data are available, to
149,000, or 57 percent, in 1999.
The percentage of students with disabilities who dropped out
of school decreased from 35 percent in 1994 to 29 percent in
1999.
Education Technology: The Administration's education technology
programs serve to make modern computers and technologies accessible to
all students, connect classrooms to the Internet, make high-quality
educational software an integral part of the curriculum, and enable
teachers to integrate technology effectively into their instruction.
This Administration's investment in educational technology has grown
from $23 million in 1993 to $872 million in 2001.
The Administration was instrumental in creating the education rate (E-
rate) in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to provide discounts for
schools and libraries to purchase high-speed Internet access, internal
wiring, and telecommunications services. Since the beginning of the
program in 1998, E-rate commitments of $5.6 billion have helped
dramatically increase the number of schools and individual classrooms
connected to the Internet. In 1994, only 35 percent of all public
schools and three percent of classrooms had a connection to the
Internet, but by 1999, 95 percent of all public schools and 63 percent
of public school classrooms were connected to the Internet.
Not only did nearly all schools connect to the Internet during this
Administration, but teachers were better prepared to take advantage of
new technological tools in the classroom. In 1994, 51 percent of
teachers had recently participated in professional development on the
use of technology, as compared to 78 percent of teachers in 1998.
Programs created during this Administration, like the Technology
Literacy Challenge Fund and Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use
Technology, have expanded technology training opportunities for teachers
to better prepare students for the new opportunities in the 21st
Century.
Hispanic Education Action Plan: To address the disproportionately low
educational achievement and high dropout rates of Latino and limited
English proficient (LEP) students, the Administration created the
Hispanic Education Action Plan (HEAP). Since its inception in 1998, the
HEAP initiative has aimed to increase funding levels for select programs
that help Latino and LEP students improve their levels of academic
achievement, high school graduation, postsecondary participation, and
opportunities for lifelong learning. HEAP programs include Title I,
Adult Education, Bilingual Education, and TRIO. The 2001 appropriation
includes $1 billion in increases over the 2000 level for all HEAP
programs. Overall funding for programs included in this initiative
[[Page 138]]
has increased by 25 percent since 1998. (See Table 11-3.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 11-3. Hispanic Education Action Plan (HEAP)
(Budget authority, in millions of dollars)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enacted
Program ------------------------ Change:
1998 2001 1998-2001
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State Agency Migrant Program................................................ 305 380 75
High School Equivalency Program............................................. 8 20 12
College Assistance Migrant Program.......................................... 2 10 8
Bilingual Education......................................................... 199 296 97
Adult Education............................................................. 361 561 200
Hispanic-serving Institutions............................................... 12 69 57
Federal TRIO Programs....................................................... 530 730 200
Migrant Youth Job Training Program (Labor).................................. NA 5 5
Migrant and Seasonal Youth Opportunity (Labor).............................. NA 12 12
GEAR UP..................................................................... NA 295 295
Title I, Grants to local educational agencies............................... 7,375 8,602 1,226
-----------------------------------
Total, HEAP............................................................... 8,792 10,979 2,187
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NA = Not applicable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bilingual Education: The population of LEP students has grown
dramatically over the last two decades. Between school years 1992-1993
and 1996-1997, the LEP population in 10 States (Alabama, Alaska,
Florida, Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South
Carolina, and Tennessee) grew by more than 50 percent. The Bilingual
Education program provides funds to school districts to teach English to
LEP students and help them meet the same challenging State standards
required of all other students. The program also funds professional
development programs to address the growing need for certified bilingual
education and English as a second language (ESL) instructors. The
Administration proposed and won over $100 million in increases for
Bilingual Education between 1993 and 2001, a 51-percent increase. The
funding level of $296 million in 2001 will produce nearly 18,000
teachers who specialize in teaching LEP children.
Public School Choice: Public School Choice programs offer enhanced
parent and student choice within the public school system and provide
participating schools with the freedom to pursue innovative education
strategies in return for stronger academic accountability. This
Administration has made public school choice a priority through support
of the Magnet Schools program and the Charter Schools program. When
President Clinton took office, only a handful of Charter Schools
existed. This Administration launched the Federal Charter Schools
Program in 1994; it was first funded in 1995 at $6 million. Due in part
to support from the Charter School program, there are currently over
2,000 charter schools in operation nationwide, and 36 States have
charter school legislation. At the current rate of growth, the
President's goal of having 3,000 charter schools in operation by 2002
will be met. In 2001, the Charter School program is receiving $190
million, a $45 million increase from the previous year. The Magnet
School program is receiving $110 million in 2001.
Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities: Since 1993, this program
has provided almost $5 billion to help 97 percent of all school
districts implement drug and violence prevention efforts. In 2001, the
program is receiving $644 million, including $117 million for the Safe
Schools/Healthy Students initiative, $50 million for the Middle School
Coordinator Initiative, and $10 million for Project SERV (School
Emergency Response to Violence). The Coordinator Initiative will help
1,300 middle schools hire a director of violence and drug prevention
programs in order to link school programs with community resources.
Project SERV will provide emergency assistance to schools that suffer
violent acts or other traumatic crises.
[[Page 139]]
Adult Education: For many disadvantaged adults, Adult Education
programs provide the only opportunity to gain literacy skills and obtain
the knowledge and skills necessary to attain employment and self-
sufficiency and to complete their secondary education. To meet the
rapidly growing need for these services across the Nation, the
Administration has proposed and won several funding increases for Adult
Education since 1993. This Administration also has created the English
Literacy/Civics initiative (EL/Civics) which assists recent immigrants
and other LEP adults in learning English while obtaining skills to
navigate effectively key institutions of American life. In 2001, the
Adult Education program is funded at $561 million, an increase of 84
percent since 1993. The 2001 level includes $70 million for the EL/
Civics initiative, up from only $7 million in 1999.
Postsecondary Education
The economic power of higher education is growing steadily as
technology and knowledge increasingly drive our Nation's economy.
Whereas young men and women in 1980 who completed at least a bachelor's
degree earned 19 percent and 52 percent more, respectively, than their
peers with no more than a high school diploma, by 1998 the earnings
differential had grown to 56 percent among men and 100 percent among
women. Jobs that require a college degree are growing twice as fast as
others.
The most recent data reveal that under this Administration, more
students than ever before are attending college and earning degrees. In
1993, 62 percent of all high school graduates went on to college. By
1998, this figure had risen to 66 percent. Only 44 percent of low-income
high school graduates enrolled in higher education immediately in 1993,
compared to 51 percent in 1997. And black high school graduates, who
attended college at a rate of 51 percent in 1993, had increased that
rate to 59 percent by 1997. Over 32 percent of 25- to 29-year-olds had
earned at least a bachelor's degree in 1999, up from 27 percent in 1993.
This Administration's initiatives included a new early intervention
program for disadvantaged students, lower fees and interest rates on
student loans, and the largest investment in student aid since the GI
Bill, including new tax credits to make college more affordable. Since
1993, the new college tax credits and the greater availability of
Federal assistance for low-income families have opened the door to
higher education for millions of students who otherwise could not afford
it. The Federal Government is providing over $60 billion in student aid
in 2001, including the Hope Scholarship and Lifetime Learning tax
credits, compared to only about $25 billion in 1993.
Hope Scholarships and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits: These tax
benefits to help families pay for postsecondary education were proposed
by President Clinton in 1996 and enacted in 1997. The Hope Scholarship
helps make the first two years of college universally available by
providing a tax credit of up to $1,500 for tuition and fees for the
first two years of college (indexed for inflation after 2001). The
Lifetime Learning tax credit provides a 20-percent tax credit on the
first $5,000 of tuition and fees for students beyond the first two years
of college, or taking classes part-time (in 2003, this increases to
$10,000 of tuition and fees). In 1999, these tax credits were claimed by
an estimated 10 million families struggling to pay for college. For the
2000 tax year, 5.6 million families are eligible for about $5 billion in
Hope tax credits, and 7.2 million families are eligible for almost $2.4
billion in Lifetime Learning tax credits. Both credits are phased out
for joint filers between $80,000 and $100,000 of modified adjusted gross
income, and for single filers between $40,000 and $50,000 (also indexed
for inflation after 2001).
Student Loans: In 2000, the Federal student loan programs provided
more than $41 billion to nearly 5.8 million borrowers to help finance
the cost of higher education. Recognizing that the cost of borrowing is
a large burden for many students, this Administration has fought to
reduce the cost of loans through lower fees and interests rates, as well
as increased competition. Additionally, the Administration has worked
diligently to improve management of the programs. Since 1993, the
Administration has:
[[Page 140]]
reduced federally-required loan origination fees from as high
as seven percent to three percent of loan principal--saving
students $4 billion;
changed the interest rate formula for student loans from a
fixed to a variable interest rate and subsequently reduced the
new rate by nearly one percent--saving students $5 billion;
enhanced competition through the creation of the Federal
Direct Student Loan Program which provided a catalyst to
improving loan benefits and services for students--saving
taxpayers $4 billion;
increased loan repayment options through the creation of the
Income Contingent Repayment plan, which allows students to
repay their loans as a share of their income;
reduced from 22.4 percent to 6.9 percent the cohort default
rate (defaults within their first two years of repayment on a
loan)--saving taxpayers $7 billion; and,
quadrupled collections on defaulted loans from $1 billion in
1993 to nearly $4 billion in 2001 through better portfolio
management--saving taxpayers $7 billion over the past eight
years.
As a result of these reforms, students have saved more than $9 billion
in loan costs while taxpayers have saved $18 billion through better
management of the programs.
Pell Grants: Pell Grants provide need-based scholarships for about
four million college students each year. When President Clinton took
office in 1993, the Pell Grant maximum award was $2,300--the same as it
was when President Bush took office in 1989. During this Administration,
the maximum award has increased 63 percent to $3,750 in 2001. Total
funding for Pell Grants increased 35 percent, from $6.5 billion in 1993
to $8.8 billion in 2001.
Work-Study: The Work-Study program helps needy undergraduate and
graduate students finance postsecondary education through part-time
employment. Work-Study jobs both expand opportunity and teach
responsibility and employment skills. In 1996, President Clinton set a
goal of supporting one million Work-Study students each year by 2000,
over 250,000 more students than in 1993. This goal was achieved in 2000
and maintained in 2001. Federal Work-Study funds have increased 64
percent since 1993, from $617 million to $1.0 billion.
President Clinton also created the America Reads and America Counts
initiatives within the Work-Study program, enabling college students to
earn aid by serving as reading and math tutors in their communities. In
1998-1999, nearly 27,000 Work-Study students served as reading tutors.
GEAR UP: In his 1998 State of the Union address, President Clinton
proposed a new initiative to help make a difference for students in
high-poverty schools. GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for
Undergraduate Programs) is based on the President's proposal to provide
early, sustained intervention and extra financial assistance to help
low-income middle- and high-school children prepare for college. GEAR UP
supports partnerships of schools, colleges, and community organizations
to help raise expectations for whole grade levels of students in high-
poverty schools. In 2001, funding for GEAR UP increases to $295 million,
providing services to 1.2 million disadvantaged students.
TRIO: This Administration also has expanded the TRIO programs to
promote college success for disadvantaged young people. TRIO programs
help low-income, first-generation college, and disabled individuals
achieve academic success beginning in middle school, throughout college,
and into graduate school. Since 1993, funding for the programs has
nearly doubled, from $388 million to $730 million. Up to 765,000
students will receive services in 2001.
Within the TRIO programs, President Clinton proposed College
Completion Challenge Grants (CCCG) to help reduce the college dropout
rate. Although college enrollment rates have risen, 37 percent of
students who go on to postsecondary school drop out before they get a
certificate or degree. The problem is especially acute for minorities:
29 percent of African Americans and 31 percent of Hispanics drop out of
college after less than one year, compared to 18 percent of whites. CCCG
is designed to
[[Page 141]]
address this problem with a comprehensive approach including pre-
freshmen summer programs, support services, and increased grant aid to
students. In 2001, key components of the CCCG proposal were enacted that
will help improve the chances of success for nearly 18,000 low-income
college students.
Student Aid Delivery System Modernization: The Education Department
manages the delivery of student aid benefits to nearly nine million
students in approximately 5,300 postsecondary schools, and oversees the
direct and guaranteed loan systems affecting 37 million individuals,
4,100 lenders, and 36 guarantee agencies. This Administration has made
modernization of student financial aid management one of its highest
priorities. In the Higher Education Amendments of 1998, the
Administration succeeded in converting the Office of Student Financial
Assistance (OSFA) into the Government's first-ever Performance-Based
Organization (PBO). This new organization has unprecedented flexibility
in procurement, operations and management of Federal student financial
assistance programs. OSFA's mission includes improving customer service
at lower cost through better contracting practices and use of new
information technology. In its first 18 months of operation, the new
OSFA has made significant progress in: (i) modernizing its 13 legacy,
stove-pipe computer systems into an integrated, customer-oriented
system; (ii) implementing web-based technologies that allow students to
conduct student aid functions online; and, (iii) reducing projected
operating costs by reforming contracting to share risks and rewards with
private sector firms.
Student Aid Income Verification: In 2000, as part of this
Administration's Priority Management Objective to ensure that the right
person gets the right benefit, the Departments of Education and Treasury
performed test matches of income data reported by students on their aid
applications against IRS data. The agencies began work on a pilot
program that will help the Department of Education prevent improper or
erroneous student aid payments before they are made and maximize the aid
available to needy students.
Vocational Rehabilitation Services: The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR)
program helps individuals with disabilities prepare for and obtain
gainful employment to the extent of their capabilities. Since 1993,
funding for the VR program has increased 28 percent, from $1.9 billion
to $2.4 billion. The 1998 reauthorization of the VR program required all
States to develop challenging, State-specific goals based on a
comprehensive assessment of the vocational rehabilitation needs of
individuals with disabilities, and to describe the strategies that will
be used to address those needs. In 2000, States first reported their
progress toward meeting these goals. To further expand employment
opportunities for individuals with disabilities, State VR agencies are
also required One-Stop partners under the Workforce Investment Act of
1998, and participate as Employment Networks under the Ticket to Work
and Workforce Incentives Improvement Act of 1999.
The number of individuals with disabilities who secured
employment under the VR program increased from approximately
194,000 in 1993 to 232,000 in 1999. The percentage of these
individuals who obtained competitive employment increased from
82 percent in 1993 to 84 percent in 1999.
The performance of VR agencies improved even while they served
more individuals with significant disabilities. Of those
individuals achieving an employment outcome through the VR
program, in 1999 nearly 85 percent had a significant
disability, up from 73 percent in 1993.
Education Tax Incentives
The President proposed the Hope Scholarship and Lifetime Learning tax
credits to make college more affordable for lower- and middle-class
families in 1996; the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (TRA) enacted these
credits. The TRA also created education IRAs for higher education
savings and allowed student loan interest to be deductible; both
benefits have income limits. The TRA provided a tax credit to holders of
Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (QZABs). Proceeds of QZABs may be used for
renovation of and purchase of equipment for schools that are high-
poverty or in enterprise communities or empowerment zones. During this
Administration, a tax
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provision allowing employees to exclude employer-provided educational
assistance for undergraduate training from their gross income has been
extended several times.
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Elementary, secondary, and postsecondary investments enable Americans
to acquire the skills to get good jobs in an increasingly competitive
global economy. In addition, most workers acquire skills on the job or
through employer-provided assistance to enhance worker skills and
productivity. However, some workers need additional assistance. In
addition to Pell Grants, student loans, and tax credits, the Federal
Government will spend some $7.1 billion in 2001 on Department of Labor
(DOL) programs that finance job training and related services, a $1.2
billion, or 21 percent, increase from the 1993 level. In addition to
these increases, the Administration has made a number of systems changes
that have moved the employment and training system from a fragmented
group of categorical programs to a consolidated and integrated system
with a focus on the needs of its customers--workers looking for new and
better jobs, and employers looking for skilled workers.
The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998: The culmination of many
years of work by this Administration and the Congress, the WIA took full
effect on July 1, 2000, as the Job Training Partnership Act was repealed
and all States began to fully implement the WIA requirements. The Act
calls for a streamlined, customer-focused job training system overseen
by local business-led Workforce Investment Boards that provide a single
point of entry to services in each community. The WIA reflects the basic
principles set out by President Clinton for this transformation,
including: streamlining services through One-Stop Career Centers;
empowering individuals with the information and resources they need to
choose the appropriate training; providing universal access to a core
set of employment services such as job search assistance; increasing
accountability, including core performance indicators; ensuring a strong
role for the private sector and the local boards that develop and
oversee programs; facilitating State and local flexibility; and,
improving the quality of youth job training services.
Youth Activities: The WIA consolidated the funding streams for DOL's
summer jobs and year-round youth training programs into one formula
grant that provides a variety of services to economically disadvantaged
youth. These WIA reforms were intended to provide more intensive and
comprehensive services to youth and achieve better programmatic outcomes
in terms of future education and employment. By consolidating the
funding streams of the two youth programs, the WIA provides local
governments the flexibility to design the education and training program
that best meets the needs of youth in their areas. Funding for the
consolidated program is $1.1 billion in 2001, serving roughly 660,000
participants. This program is part of the Department's efforts to reach
the nearly 11 million young people between 16 and 24 who are not in
school.
Youth Opportunity Grants: The Youth Opportunities initiative, first
piloted in 1993, addresses the special problems of out-of-school youth,
especially in inner-cities and other areas where unemployment and
poverty rates are high. This model uses a saturation service-delivery
approach, concentrating resources in high-poverty communities in order
to bring about fundamental change in neighborhoods served. It combines
Federal, State and local resources with private-sector involvement to
create a comprehensive approach to job training, education, and career
counseling. The 2001 appropriation provides $275 million for the third
year of five-year competitive grants to 36 communities and expands to an
additional two to three communities--serving 5,000 more disadvantaged
youth than the 58,000 served in 2000.
Responsible Reintegration for Young Offenders (RRYO): Building on
lessons learned through the Youth Offender demonstration, the 2001
appropriation provides $55 million to establish partnerships between the
criminal justice system and local One-Stop delivery systems created
under the WIA. Young offenders up to age 35 will have access to
comprehensive services--including education, training, drug treatment,
and support services--that can help them successfully reenter the
community and
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the economic mainstream. This initiative is being administered through
collaboration among the Departments of Justice, Labor, and Health and
Human Services. The three Departments are working with State and local
agencies and communities to develop programs that address every element
of the re-entry challenge. In 2001, the RRYO program will support
services for almost 14,000 young ex-offenders.
Job Corps: Founded in 1964, Job Corps serves severely disadvantaged
youth ages 16 through 24 by providing skill training, education, and
support services. It is primarily a residential program with
approximately 88 percent of students living at Job Corps centers. This
successful program has expanded during this Administration. In 2001 with
funding of $1.4 billion, Job Corps will have 121 centers across the
country serving nearly 74,000 students--16 percent more than in 1993.
Dislocated Worker Employment and Training Activities: The 2001 funding
of almost $1.6 billion for this program will provide training and
employment services to about 883,000 displaced workers. The amount more
than doubles the 1993 funding level of $651 million, and nearly triples
the participant level to 883,400. In 2000, 80 percent of participants
are expected to be employed six months after leaving the program in jobs
that replace, on average, 98 percent of their pre-dislocation earnings.
One-Stop Career Centers/Employment Service: The Employment Service
provides a free labor exchange for all job seekers and employers and
operates in the One-Stop delivery system established by the WIA. Funds
for 2001, a total of roughly $1 billion, support a range of information
and services, including self-service access to job and labor market
information, either through the Internet or in local offices, as well as
staff-assisted services for those needing more help. This level is a 12-
percent increase over the 1993 funding of $895 million for the
Employment Service.
In 1994, President Clinton initiated a program of planning and
implementation grants for States to establish networks of One-Stop
Career Centers in their States. These Centers were designed to
streamline access to multiple employment and training programs, with a
total of $977 million provided for this purpose since 1994. As a result
of the Administration's efforts, the WIA institutionalized One-Stops as
the primary mode of training and employment service delivery.
During this Administration, the growth of the Internet transformed the
way labor exchange services are delivered. Job-seekers and employers
could be linked electronically without the need to visit the local
Employment Service office. Information on local jobs could expand to
cover regional and national labor markets. In this new environment,
workers who want to learn about job openings can use DOL's popular
America's Job Bank (AJB) web site, which lists an average of 1.5 million
job vacancies each day and has over 10 million job searches each month.
Employers can search through resumes posted on the AJB web site, with
over 500,000 listed daily.
Work Incentive Grants: In 2000, President Clinton initiated a $20
million program of competitive grants to partnerships or consortia in
each State to provide services and information for individuals with
disabilities who want to return to work. These partnerships work with
the One-Stop system to augment its capabilities to provide timely and
accurate information that people with disabilities need to get jobs and
learn about the benefits available to them when they return to work.
Welfare-to-Work Grants: Moving people from welfare to work has been
the primary goal of Federal welfare policy. In addition to the $16.5
billion per year provided through the Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families Program, President Clinton obtained a total of $3 billion to
help achieve this goal through Welfare-to-Work grants over 1998 and
1999. These competitive and formula grants provide welfare recipients
with the job placement services, transitional employment, and job
retention and support services they need to achieve economic self-
sufficiency. Working closely with the Congress, the Administration later
secured critically needed changes to the program's eligibility and
reporting requirements. These streamlined criteria allow the Welfare-to-
Work grants program, within existing resources, to better serve the
eligible population and report program results with minimal burden. In
light of this, in 2001, States' authority to obligate
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these funds was extended for two years. This program also is discussed
in Chapter 14, ``Income Security.''
Skills Shortage Grants: A new program of high-tech skills shortage
grants, funded by employer-paid visa application fees for foreign
workers, was initiated in 1999. To date, this program has provided about
$96 million to help workers keep pace with the rapidly changing economy
and to provide employers with the skilled workers they need. In 2001, an
estimated $167 million is available for these purposes.
Workplace Protections: DOL regulates compliance with various laws that
protect individuals in the workplace a minimum wage for virtually all
workers, prevailing wages and equal employment opportunity for workers
on Government contracts, overtime pay, restrictions on child labor, and
time off for family illness or childbirth. (For discussion of workplace
safety programs, see Chapter 12, ``Health.'') Given dramatic changes in
the type of jobs in and composition of the U.S. work force in recent
years, DOL has tailored its compliance efforts to continue ensuring
effective worker protection.
For example, DOL has focused many of its compliance activities on low-
wage industries like garment, agriculture, and health care industries
that have the lowest compliance rate and in which the most egregious
violations occur. In 2001, DOL's goal is to increase compliance by five
percent among employers who were previous violators and the subject of
repeat investigations in these targeted industries. DOL also has worked
to increase industry's compliance with labor protections through
voluntary compliance initiatives and outreach to new and small
businesses.
Worker Benefits: The Administration has led successful efforts to
provide better benefits to workers. Among the President's first acts in
1993 was to propose, and then sign, the Family and Medical Leave Act.
The Act allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid
leave to care for a newborn or newly adopted child, attend to their own
serious health needs, or care for a seriously ill parent, child, or
spouse. These protections make it less likely that employees will have
to choose between work and family. To date, over 35 million workers have
taken advantage of this benefit.
In 1996, President Clinton successfully sought a $1 increase in the
minimum wage over two years bringing it to $5.15 an hour providing an
additional $1,800 a year to a full-time, full-year minimum wage earner.
This increase helped approximately 10 million workers. The
Administration also made equal pay a prominent issue. Intended in part
to address the gap in pay between men and women, in 2001 DOL is planning
to dedicate $17 million to equal pay efforts such as training women in
nontraditional jobs and providing employers with assistance to assess
and improve their pay policies.
In 2000, the Congress failed to complete work on a $1 increase in the
minimum wage, which remains essential and which will, over time, still
be inadequate for the minimum wage to keep pace with our Nation's
prosperity.
International Child Labor/Bureau of International Labor Affairs
(ILAB): As a result of the Administration's efforts, the United States
now is a world leader in ensuring that globalization helps raise labor
conditions around the world. The 2001 appropriation provides $148
million for this purpose, nineteen times greater than in 1993. A focal
point of the Administration's priorities has been the elimination of
abusive and exploitative child labor. In 2001, President Clinton
successfully secured a 50-percent increase, for a five-year total of
$195 million, to support the International Labor Organization's (ILO)
International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC). Over
the last five years, these projects have provided educational
opportunities to some 120,000 children in several developing countries
and have provided their families with viable economic alternatives to
having their children work. The 2001 appropriation includes $37 million
for a new bilateral assistance child labor initiative aimed at improving
and expanding access to basic education as part of a comprehensive
strategy to eliminate child labor. Lastly, the Administration secured
$45 million to help developing countries implement core labor standard
initiatives and strengthen social
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safety net programs for workers in developing economies.
Labor Tax Incentives
The Targeted Jobs Tax Credit, which provided employers with a tax
credit on wages paid to disadvantaged workers, was extended
retroactively in 1993 to cover workers hired from 1992 to 1994. This
credit was replaced by the more tightly targeted Work Opportunity Tax
Credit in 1996. In 1997, the Taxpayer Relief Act created the Welfare-to-
Work Tax Credit to encourage employers to hire recipients of long-term
family assistance. This tax credit also is discussed in Chapter 14,
``Income Security.''
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Head Start: Head Start gives low-income children a comprehensive
approach to child development, stressing language and cognitive
development, health, nutrition, and social competency. Between 1993 and
2001, funding for Head Start increased 123 percent to $6.2 billion.
Enrollment, which stood at 714,000 children in 1993, is expected to
reach 936,000 children in 2001, well on the way to achieving the
President's goal of serving one million children annually by 2002. The
1994 reauthorization of Head Start established Early Head Start, a new
program targeted at pregnant women and low-income families with children
under age three. Within the 936,000 children expected to be served in
2001, more than 50,000 infants and toddlers will be enrolled in Early
Head Start.
Foster Care and Adoption Assistance: The Administration for Children
and Families administers a number of programs that focus on preventing
maltreatment of children, protecting children from abuse and neglect,
and finding permanent placements for children who cannot safely return
to their homes. The First Lady has played a prominent role in promoting
the adoption of children living in foster care and in working for
passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA), landmark
legislation which reformed our Nation's child welfare system by putting
considerations of children's health and safety first. The Adoption
Incentives program, enacted into law as part of ASFA in 1997, was one of
the innovative recommendations advanced in the President's Adoption 2002
Initiative to focus attention on the needs of children awaiting
permanent adoptive families. The program has resulted in unprecedented
increases in the number of children adopted. In 1999, 46,000 foster care
children were adopted, up from 23,000 in 1994, the first year for which
reliable figures are available, and well within reach of meeting the
President's goal of 56,000 adoptions by 2002, double the number in 1996.
This is the first significant increase in adoption since the national
foster care program was established nearly 20 years ago.
The Administration also worked with the Congress to enact the Foster
Care Independence Act. Nearly 20,000 young people leave foster care each
year when they reach age 18 without an adoptive family or other
guardian. The Foster Care Independence Act doubled the amount of funding
available to $140 million annually to ensure that those young people get
the tools they need to make the most of their lives by providing them
better educational opportunities, access to health care, training,
housing assistance, counseling, and other services.
Aging Services Programs: The Administration on Aging (AoA) administers
information and assistance, home and community-based support services
for older people, and programs that protect the rights of vulnerable,
at-risk older people. Since 1993, funding for AoA programs has increased
32 percent, from $839 million in 1993 to $1.1 billion in 2001. As a
result, AoA and its partners have been able to expand delivery of such
important services as home-delivered meals from 103 million meals served
in 1993 to an anticipated 176 million meals in 2001, a 71-percent
increase. In addition, in 2000, the President signed into law
legislation to reauthorize the Older Americans Act, which included the
Administration's proposal to support families caring for loved ones who
are ill or disabled. In 2001, $125 million is available for this new
long-term care program.
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Health and Human Services Tax Incentives
The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 made taxpayers eligible for a child
tax credit for each dependent child under the age of 17 to help make it
easier for parents to participate in the labor force. The credit amount
per child was $400 in 1998 and rose to $500 in 1999 and subsequent
years. The credit is gradually phased out for taxpayers with adjusted
gross income in excess of the following thresholds: $110,000 for married
taxpayers filing a joint return, $75,000 for a single tax-payer or head
of household, and $55,000 for married taxpayers filing a separate
return. This tax credit will provide over $19 billion in benefits in
2001.
The Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 included two tax
provisions to assist families who adopt children: a nonrefundable tax
credit for the first $5,000 in adoption expenses per child, and an
exclusion of up to $5,000 per adoption for certain employer-paid or
employer-reimbursed adoption expenses. Both the credit and the exclusion
are phased out gradually for taxpayers with incomes between $75,000 and
$115,000.
NATIONAL SERVICE
The President set as one of his first legislative objectives the
establishment of a national service program. As a result, one of this
Administration's earliest successful legislative initiatives was the
establishment of the Corporation for National and Community Service
(CNCS) in 1993. CNCS consolidated several existing volunteer programs
and created the AmeriCorps program to engage Americans of all ages and
backgrounds in community-based service. Through Corporation-supported
projects, over 1.7 million participants serve each year in community
organizations to address the Nation's unmet, critical needs. The 2001
appropriation includes $767 million for the Corporation, a $483 million,
170 percent increase over 1993. The major programs the Corporation
oversees are AmeriCorps, the National Senior Service Corps, and Learn
and Serve America.
AmeriCorps: Since the launch of AmeriCorps in September 1994, more
than 200,000 participants have served in communities across the country
tutoring hundreds of thousands of children, responding to natural
disasters in more than 30 States, establishing or expanding more than
40,000 neighborhood safety patrols, and building or rehabilitating more
than 25,000 homes for the homeless. For their service, AmeriCorps
members are eligible to receive educational awards that help pay for
college or job training, or repay student loans. To date, AmeriCorps
members have qualified for almost $450 million in education awards. In
2001, nearly 50,000 members will have the opportunity to help
communities meet their pressing needs.
National Senior Service Corps (NSSC): The NSSC uses the talents,
skills, and experience of more than 500,000 older Americans to help
solve local problems as Foster Grandparents, Senior Companions, or as
Retired and Senior Volunteers (RSVP). The 2001 appropriation includes
$189 million for the NSSC, a $61 million, 48-percent increase over 1993.
Members help meet a wide range of community needs, serve one-on-one with
young people with special needs and help other seniors live
independently in their homes. In 2000, the RSVP program tutored more
than 30,000 students in grades K-6 and helped meet the needs of more
than 10,000 terminally ill patients in homes, hospitals, and hospices
across the country.
Service Opportunities for Youth: Learn and Serve America supports
service-learning programs in schools and community organizations that
engage youth in addressing education, public safety, environmental, and
other human needs. In 2000, more than one million students participated
in these programs, which range from designing neighborhood playgrounds
to preparing food for the homeless. The 2001 appropriation provides $43
million for Learn and Serve.
CULTURAL AGENCIES
The Smithsonian Institution and Other Cultural Agencies: The
Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art, the U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
all play a significant role in the cultural life of Washington D.C., and
the Nation. During this
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Administration, these agencies have continued their record of sharing
their knowledge and collections with the American public, as well as
maintaining and expanding their physical facilities to house their
unique assets.
Highlights of the past eight years include:
The dedication of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in April,
1993, by President Clinton. Since then, the Museum has
welcomed over 15 million visitors, including 63 heads of
state.
The opening of the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden in
May 1999, and unprecedented exhibitions organized by and
presented at the Gallery, including those of paintings of the
Dutch artist Vermeer in 1995-1996 and Van Gogh in 1998-1999.
Federal appropriations for the National Gallery increased 38
percent during this Administration, from $55 million in 1993
to $76 million in 2001.
The celebration of the Smithsonian's 150th birthday party on
the Mall in August 1996, and the national tour of ``America's
Smithsonian'' to commemorate the Institution's 150th year. In
addition, the Smithsonian created its web site in 1995, which
has allowed universal public access to Smithsonian exhibitions
and artifacts. Federal appropriations for the Smithsonian
increased 32 percent during this Administration, from $344
million in 1993 to $455 million in 2001.
The Kennedy Center unveiled its state-of-the-art renovation of
its concert hall in 1997. Federal appropriations for the
Kennedy Center more than doubled during this Administration,
from $14 million in 1993 to $34 million in 2001.
The groundbreaking for two new Smithsonian museums--the
National Museum of the American Indian on the Mall and the
extension of the National Air and Space Museum at Dulles
Airport--and the opening of the Woodrow Wilson Center's new
quarters on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning
Commission have responsibilities for the arts and architecture of the
Nation's capital city. The National Capital Planning Commission
completed its long-range plan that will guide development in the D.C.
central area for the next 50 to 100 years, including creating
opportunities for new museums and memorials and preserving the open
space of the National Mall. The Commission of Fine Arts approved designs
for numerous monuments and buildings, including the Franklin D.
Roosevelt Memorial, which opened in 1997.
The National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities: The National
Endowment for the Arts (NEA) , the National Endowment for the Humanities
(NEH), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) provide
support for important cultural, educational and artistic programs for
communities across America. These agencies fund education and lifelong
learning programs as well as projects to increase public access to
performances, exhibitions, and our Nation's cultural treasures held by
museums, libraries, archives, and historical organizations. The agencies
were able to maintain their roles over the last eight years because the
Administration won bipartisan support in the face of severe critics in
the Congress.
NEA has moved forward in several dramatic ways over the past
several years, placing an emphasis on outreach and focusing on
grants to more people and places for education, services for
young people, and preservation of cultural heritage. More
grants are going to smaller organizations in small and medium-
sized communities. NEA has also taken administrative steps to
reform aspects of its grant review process thus increasing its
accountability. In 2001, NEA is receiving $105 million in
funding, with $7 million for its new Challenge America
program. Through Challenge America, NEA will award grants,
directly or in partnership with States, to communities across
America that focus on arts education and enrichment, after-
school programs, access to the arts for underserved
communities, and community arts development initiatives.
In keeping with Administration priorities, NEH has focused its
programmatic efforts on developing new audiences for
humanities programming, on innovative uses of
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technology, and on the education of our Nation's students. In
1996, NEH launched a major Teaching with Technology initiative
that encouraged schools across the country to make use of new
technologies to bring the humanities to their students in
creative and challenging ways. In 1998, NEH joined with MCI
Communications Corporation and the Council of Great City
Schools to develop EDSITEment, a humanities-rich meta-web site
designed for teachers and students alike. More recently, NEH
has embarked on an ambitious, agency-wide effort, Extending
the Reach, that seeks to make all NEH programs more accessible
to underserved regions and audiences. In 2001, NEH received a
$5 million increase over 2000 for a total of $120 million,
allowing the agency to continue its emphasis on extending the
reach of NEH's programs to underserved areas.
IMLS has inaugurated several programs over the past eight
years which encourage educational endeavors ranging from after
school programs to mentorships to helping museums and
libraries maximize the potential of digital media in their
activities. In 1994, museums that made outstanding
contributions in community service were honored with the first
National Award for Museum Service, followed by the
establishment of the National Award for Library Service in
2000. In 2000, a new, comprehensive funding program called
National Leadership Grants was established, supporting
innovation and collaboration in library and museum services.
Through this program, IMLS is aggressively working to help
museums and libraries build electronic networks and use
technology to make their resources more accessible. In 2001,
IMLS' Office of Museum Services was funded at $25 million and
the Office of Library Services received $207 million in the
2001 appropriation. IMLS will promote access to learning and
information resources held by museums and libraries through
electronic linkages, helping all 55 State library agencies
expand electronic access to materials and increase Internet
access, and providing technical support to museums in putting
collections information on-line.