White House Studies Shift of School Program Funds

The Clinton Administration is moving to eliminate 33 programs that provide money to local school systems for a variety of special projects, including reading instruction and bilingual vocational courses, Administration officials say.

The money would be given instead to Education Secretary Richard W. Riley for discretionary use, particularly for distribution to poorer school districts suffering severe problems.

The shift, which is still undergoing final review in the White House, is part of a larger effort to direct more federal education funds from middle-class schools to poorer ones and address problems considered most harmful. But it risks inflaming current recipients, many of whom are strapped for funds themselves.

“We want to shift more of the funds towards depressed areas so more goes to the children in greatest need and less of it goes to subsidizing middle-class schools,” said Bob Stone, director of the National Performance Review, the Administration’s program to curtail government inefficiency and waste.

The Office of Management and Budget estimates that by closing down and phasing out these programs, the Administration can save more than $500 million between now and 1999 and use that money to support other national education goals.

Congressional aides were skeptical, however, that the Administration will be able to stop funding for many of the programs, which, while small, have ardent supporters in the House or Senate.

One program, for instance, provides funds specifically to educate native Hawaiians and is the pet program of Rep. Patsy T. Mink (D-Hawaii), one of the most vocal members of the House subcommittee on elementary, secondary and vocational education.

Another program, which funds law-related education, is a favorite of Rep. Dale E. Kildee (D-Mich.), chairman of that subcommittee.

Rep. William H. Natcher (D-Ky.), chairman of the powerful appropriations committee, is a big fan of the Consumer and Homemaking Education grant and of a program that gives money to school systems that have to educate children of people who live or work at federal facilities. Both of those programs are on the list for elimination.

The programs also play a role in congressional give and take, providing a form of political currency that is useful in negotiations over other legislation. “We often gain a senator’s wholehearted support for legislation by giving him a small bone,” said a Senate staffer.

Congress is also unlikely to agree to give the education secretary complete control of the funds that would be diverted from so many existing programs.

“Is Congress going to provide a pot that large with full discretion by a secretary? I think that is probably very unlikely,” said David Evans, staff director of the Senate subcommittee on education.

The number of programs to be cut is not final, Education Department officials stressed.

The National Performance Review has named 55 of the 230 programs run by the department as possible targets. The current draft lists 33 programs, but that may change before legislation is sent to Congress.

The Administration considers these programs expendable because either they duplicate other programs, their purposes have already been achieved or funding can come from elsewhere.

The cuts will probably be included in the President’s budget for fiscal 1995, which begins Oct. 1.