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President’s Budget Gives a 11% Boost to LSTAPresident Bush’s $2.3-trillion budget for fiscal 2005 includes $220 million for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), an increase of 11%. The budget request also proposes $23 million for the Librarians for the 21st Century program, a $3-million increase. The American Library Association’s Washington Office notes that the Department of Education would receive $53.7 billion in discretionary funding, a 3% increase over FY 2004. The Reading First State Grants program would get $1.1 billion, a 10% increase, and the Early Reading First program $132 million, a 40% increase. The Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program would be funded at $19.8 million, the same level as FY 2004. However, the budget proposes the elimination of such key education programs as the Even Start family literacy project, Star Schools, and the Community Technology Centers program. The budget also includes $100 million for the Striving Readers Initiative, which would make competitive grants available to states and school districts to develop, implement, and evaluate reading interventions for middle or high school students who read significantly below grade level. The program is part of the Jobs for the 21st Century initiative announced in President Bush’s State of the Union address. ALA praised the president’s budget proposal. “This increase in LSTA funding will allow libraries to expand important community services to our many patrons,” noted ALA President Carla Hayden, “including computer and technology related training, Internet access, family literacy classes, homework help, mentoring programs, English as a Second Language classes, job training, and lifelong learning programs for adults and children alike.” She added that the programs “are cost-effective, and have the foresight to address the growing problems associated with outdated books, badly supplied libraries, the growing technology disparity gap between rich and poor, and the shortage of qualified librarians.” Posted February 6, 2004. |
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