Let's head this crap off now
Republican Leaders Use Accounting Gimmicks to Mislead Public on Education Financing
Monday, July 12, 2004
WASHINGTON, DC – A new analysis prepared for Representative George Miller (D-CA) by his staff on the House education committee explains how Republicans in Congress are using accounting gimmicks to mislead the public into believing that states are “flooded” with unspent funds for elementary and secondary education programs.
“The Republicans are trying to hide the fact that they and President Bush have shortchanged America’s schools by $27 billion by making the false argument that states have not yet spent the money that Congress has already provided,” said Miller, the senior Democrat on the committee.
“But, under the Republicans’ own faulty accounting logic, every single federal agency has unspent funds,” said Miller, who supplied a list of unobligated funds for five other key federal agencies. “The Department of Defense leads the way, with $52.2 billion in unspent funds at the end of 2003. Are Republican leaders suggesting that our soldiers in Iraq have too many resources?”
Officials in the Department of Education and Congressional Republicans know that states are allowed over two years to spend their federal education funds. States often use these funds to finance long-term projects, including test and curriculum development and professional development for teachers, principals and other staff.
Often the costs for these types of expenses are not billed for months, or even years, after the services are purchased. As a result, the states have “unexpended balances” of federal education money because they cannot draw down funds until the bills come due.
“The Administration and Committee Chairman Boehner are using nothing more than a bookkeeping gimmick to try to distract the public from their broken promises for education,” said Miller. “Counting these unexpended balances as available money is no different than counting all the money in your checkbook on payday as unobligated – money that you know you will need to pay the mortgage, rent, food, medical care, clothing and other real costs.
“Playing smoke and mirror accounting gimmicks will not help us achieve the main goals of education law: making sure every student is performing at grade level in a quality school, with a competent teacher,” Miller added.
