ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 12, Number 11
February 4, 2003

In This Issue: INCREASES FOR LIBRARY PROGRAMS IN PRESIDENT'S FY2004 BUDGET REQUEST

On February 3, the President's Budget for FY2004 was released.  The Budget was produced by the Government Printing Office and is also available online at www.omb.gov.   It is a rare occurrence that the budget for FY2004 would be presented before the completion of the Budget for FY2003, but the House/Senate conference on the remaining eleven appropriations bills was not completed over this past weekend.  The conferees will continue to meet this week, and Congress may pass another Continuing Resolution until February 14.

At a press conference at the Department of Education held on February 3, Secretary Paige announced a 5.6 percent increase in proposed funding for programs in the Department of Education, a request in the President's Budget for FY2004 of $53.1 billion.  Increases cited were in Title I, IDEA and Pell Grants.  The Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program would receive more than double the amount requested in FY2003, $27.5 million -which could expand the number of grants, "in recognition that school libraries can play a strategic role in making information available to all students, training students and teachers about how to obtain and make use of information, and increasing access for low-income students to technology and information."  

For FY2004 library program dollars allocated under the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the total would be $207.6 million, while the museum program amount would be $34 million, bringing the total request for both libraries and museums to $242 million.  The budget proposes a $15 million increase in library state grants, and a $20 million amount for library recruitment from the FY2003 budget request.  The budget document states that, "The Administration supports the role of libraries and museums to enhance lifelong learning ..."

There are a number of education programs scheduled for elimination such as Community Technology Centers, the National Writing Project and Parental Assistance Information Centers, but many of these have congressional support and could be reinstated in the final appropriations process.  Other programs such as the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (an after school program) suffered a significant cut from $1 billion to $600 million based on an evaluation conducted by the Department of Education that found problems with the program.  Secretary Paige cited a lack of educational content as one of the problems.



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