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Alaska State Legislature House and Senate Democrats |
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http://www.akdemocrats.org Frank Ameduri, Press Secretary (907) 465-3842 (907) 465-5125 press@akdemocrats.org |
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE · April 24, 2003 |
Guess Calls for “No Child Left Behind” Funding
JUNEAU – Senator Gretchen Guess (D-Anchorage) today introduced a bill to provide Alaska school districts with education grants to accomplish the goals of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind act. Senate Bill 196 provides that each district is eligible for $210 per student plus the regional cost differential to focus on compliance with No Child Left Behind. These grants would take the place of Quality School Grants and Learning Opportunity Grants (LOGs). “President Bush was right to call for no child being left behind in education,” said Senator Guess. “These grants will ensure Alaska meets his goal by directing resources toward the classrooms. The grants are named after President Bush, and will be known as ‘George W. Bush No Child Left Behind School Improvement Grants.’” The grants are estimated to cost approximately $30 million per year. This figure is $3 million more than the current funding for quality school grants and learning opportunity grants. Additionally, to provide performance incentives to school districts, a district can keep 25 percent of the grant money for additional classroom expenses if they have met the No Child Left Behind standards. “We currently have two grant programs, both of which with its own bureaucracy,” explains Sen. Guess. “This program would cut down on paper work, provide more funding to the classroom learning, and focus our monies on these new national requirements.” “Governor Murkowski’s 100-day accomplishments booklet states his commitment to this federal law,” said Sen. Guess, “I hope the Governor will support this bill.” SB 196 was referred to the Senate HESS and Finance committees.
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