Bush proposes $300 million for educational vouchers

In his final budget proposals, President George W. Bush is recommending a $300 million Pell Grant for Kids, educational vouchers that would allow children to transfer to private schools.
And while adding this program, the president is also recommending the elimination or consolidation of several Education Department programs:

The budget would add $300 million for Pell Grants for Kids, a new voucher program aimed at giving low-income students in struggling schools aid to help them switch to private schools. It also would provide $1 billion for Reading First, up from the $393 million that Congress appropriated for the current fiscal year. The reading program has been beset by allegations of conflicts of interest.

Some Democrats and education groups contended that the budget would shortchange schools of money needed to carry out the six-year-old No Child Left Behind law and such other priorities as career and technical education. Democrats also attacked the voucher proposal.

Thankfully, the lame duck president has little chance of getting these changes through in an election year.