U.S. Senator Charles Schumer
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer has announced that, after his public push, over $100 million in at-risk federal education dollars for Upstate New York schools has been protected.
Earlier this week, Schumer launched a major push to block any Senate amendment that significantly cuts Title I funding in the Every Child Achieves Act. Schumer explained that the original Senate amendment would have radically changed the current formula used to allocate Title I education funds to K-12 schools.
These funds are the largest source of federal funding for elementary and secondary education and are key to every state’s ability to improve educational opportunities, particularly for children in New York State.
Schumer successfully worked with Senators Burr, Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Murray to secure a compromise to the amendment. Schumer said that he insisted that all funds be “held harmless” – meaning the new formula would not apply to any of the existing funds New York receives.
In addition, Schumer secured a further improvement to require that the new formula not be applied until Title I funding reaches an annual level of $17 billion. Currently, Title I is funded at approximately $14.5 billion.
Leave a Reply