WASHINGTON -- President Reagan, who wants to abolish the Education Department, today asked Congress to cut the department's current budget and impose further reductions in fiscal 1984.
Reagan, in the face of record federal deficits, proposed the department's fiscal 1983 authorization be reduced 15 percent to $13.8 billion. The bulk of the $1.2 billion cutback, about $900 million, would come from student loans.
He also recommended a fiscal 1984 education budget of $13.1 billion. This would include another $143 million in cuts in student loans and a reduction of $324 million in vocational education.
Last year, Reagan proposed an education budget of $10 million. But Congress, where there is strong opposition to closing the agency created by President Jimmy Carter, raised the figure to $15.1 million.
Education Secretary Terrel Bell, in an interview with UPI earlier this month, said he expected the White House to submit legislation to Congress within a few months to dismantle the agency. He acknowledged it would be a tough fight. There was no indication of that in the budget.
Although again seeking overall education reductions, Reagan also proposed a few increases. For instance, he recommended federal funds for college work-studies programs be increased by 60 percent to $850 million. This program is designed, in part, to help youngsters repay student loans.
Reagan also recommended $50 million in federal block grants to states to increase the number of science and math teachers in secondary schools. He first unveiled the proposal Tuesday in his State of the Union address, without saying how much he would seek.
Initial reaction to the proposed budget from education groups was swift and sharp, with criticism focusing on efforts to further cut student loans and vocational educational.
The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association also blasted Reagan for proposing Title I funds, used to provide basic reading and math skills to the disadvantaged, be cut by $126 million this year.
'His proposals would certainly reduce educational opportunities for many,' said a spokesman for the 560,000-member AFT.
Linda Tarr-Whelan, director of government relations for the 1.7-million member NEA, said Reagan's proposal of $5 million for math and science is ludicrously low.
'That works out to about a dollar a student,' she said. 'The idea that the president would stand up at his State of the Union and say we must all work together to improve math and science and then propose this is irresponsible.'
She said Reagan's proposal to cut student loans as well as vocational educational is a 'double-whammy' that would make it tougher for youngsters to go to college as well as to train for a job.
As for his proposed cuts in Title I funds, she said, 'that would hit the neediest of all -- the underprivileged.'
The administration, in documents accompanying the budget proposal, said the federal government traditionally played a limited role in financing education, but that the trend was smashed with big spending the past two decades.
'The administration has moved forcefully to change that trend by simplifying programs, reducing unnecessary intrusions in local affairs and reducing the excessive growth in spending,' it said.
