Department of Education Exempt from Spending “Freeze”

Lindsey Burke / January 28, 2010

It appears that President Obama will exempt education from his so-called spending freeze. Despite the fact that Obama already doubled the Department of Education’s budget through the Omnibus and Stimulus bills last year, he plans to continue the spending binge. The Washington Post reported yesterday:

Administration officials said they could not provide a direct comparison to current elementary and secondary education spending levels, but they said federal education spending would rise overall by 6.2 percent. That would apparently be the largest percentage increase since 2003, not counting the huge infusion from last year’s economic stimulus law.

The Post writes that the President will talk about a $1.35 billion increase to his more than $4 billion Race to the Top Fund, which provides competitive grants to states to implement certain education reforms. The increase comes before the winners of the first round of RttT money have even been announced, let alone before the first $4 billion has been spent. (more…)