Okay, for those of you who have been following this, here’s Part III.
At the bottom of this entry is the pertinent FY 2011 budget request from the Administration.
What this tells us is $137mm would be allocated for the grants portion of the third of three new categories of funding that includes arts education: Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well-Rounded Education.
$137mm would be allocated to a total of 15-20 grants across seven disciplines including the arts, foreign language, history, civics and government, and economics.
Additionally, $111mm will be allocated to support antecedent programs, including $15mm for arts education.
So, here’s what I haven’t quite figured out yet: I have been informed that there are currently 54 active arts education grants including AEMDD and PDAE (Professional Development).
54 grants for arts education currently, which have been awarded across different years (it’s true, I don’t yet have all the details), need to be viewed in light of the proposal to award a total of 15-20 grants annually to five different areas, some portion of which will be for arts education. So, even if the grants are allocated evenly across the five disciplines, that constitutes between four and five arts education grants a year.
The last year AEMDD grants were awarded, there were 14 grants grants.
Finally, there has been no determination made as to how the performance of the program will be measured, although they have tipped their hand pretty strongly. (see last paragraph of request.)
So, you can see a few key questions emerging:
1. Is the USDOE committed to supporting arts education through its grant making on an annual basis?
2. Will the structure result in a diminution of the current program, through dollar amounts awarded, programmatic changes, or otherwise?
3. How does the USDOE envision the structure of the new program?
4. Are they committed to retaining arts education as a core academic subject?
5. Am I making any sense at all?!?
FY 2011 BUDGET REQUEST
The Administration requests $265 million in 2011 for the proposed Effective Teaching and
Learning for a Well-Rounded Education program. The request would support the first year of the new program, which would replace several narrowly targeted programs that support the improvement of education in the arts, foreign language, history, civics and government, and economics.The Administration believes that all students should receive high-quality instruction in the core academic subject areas. However, the existing range of Federal programs that focus on the teaching and learning of specific subjects, including the arts, foreign languages, civics and government, history, geography, and economics and financial literacy is too fragmented to provide State and district officials with the tools they need to strengthen instruction and increase student achievement in the comprehensive manner required. Nor are the current programs well-structured to enable educators and policymakers to identify the most effective practices to replicate. Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well-Rounded Education would address these problems by consolidating the existing funding streams into a single comprehensive program that drives resources to where they are most needed and in a manner that will more effectively address local needs and generate information on what works.
The Department also would use funds allocated for Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well- Rounded Education to pay continuation costs under Arts in Education, Foreign Language Assistance, Teaching American History, Civic Education, and Excellence in Economic Education.
EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS
Effective Teaching and Learning for a Complete Education
D-29
PROGRAM OUTPUT MEASURES ($000s)
2011
Amount for grants $137,591
Number of grants 15-20
Peer review of new award applications $200
National activities set-aside $15,310
Continuations for antecedent programs $111,899
Total, Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well-Rounded Education $265,000
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NOTE: Continuation costs of approximately $111,899 thousand would be provided to fund continuation awards for grants made under the following programs prior to enactment of the reauthorization: Arts in Education ($15,257), Foreign Language Assistance ($29,296), Teaching American History ($50,000), Civic Education ($3,346), and Excellence in Economic Education ($14,000).National Activities
From the amount requested for the Effective Teaching and Learning for a Complete Education programs, the Administration would reserve $71.2 million in 2011 to support a range of national activities, including research, technical assistance, prize awards, dissemination, financial literacy, and other activities. The Department may also use funds to strengthen the use of technology in the core academic subjects, including through grants to help build States’ capacity to implement technology-enabled curriculum, assessments, professional development, and supporting tools and resources. National Activities funds could also be used to provide assistance to public telecommunications agencies, such as the Public Broadcasting Service, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and other entities to create high-quality educational content or children.PROGRAM PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
The Department has not yet developed performance measures for this proposed program, but will do so later in 2010. These measures would likely include the percentage of students who perform above proficiency in core academic subjects as measured against their States’ K-12 standards.