Block Grants for Education

In a federal system of government, a block grant is a large sum of money granted by the national government to a regional government with only general provisions as to the way it is to be spent. The term block grant generally refers to a package of funding that is created by consolidating several existing programs into one.

An advantage of block grants is that they allow regional governments to experiment with different ways of spending money with the same goal in mind. It is difficult, however, to compare the results of such spending, and a major challenge with block grants is ensuring accountability for spending and outcomes. Furthermore, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) (formerly the General Accounting Office) found that the focus and purpose of the specific programs that block grants replace are often lost. Block grants also greatly reduce the level of funding the included programs receive, and the funds are less likely to be targeted based on need.

The idea of distributing federal funds to state and local governments in the form of block grants has been around since the 1940s. Block grants provide a fixed amount of federal funds to state and local governments. These grants typically receive limited federal oversight and give state and local governments broad flexibility in designing and implementing programs. Currently, most federal funds are distributed through categorical grants, which allocate funds to be used for narrowly defined purposes.

One function of federal education funding is to target dollars to the areas of greatest need. A January 1998 GAO report on school finance reported that, in 45 of the 47 states included in the analysis, federal funding was more targeted to poor students than state funding was. On average, for every $1.00 of state funding school districts received per student, they received an additional $.62 in state funding per poor student. In contrast, for every $1.00 of federal funding school districts received per student, they received an average of $4.73 in additional federal funding per poor student. Block grants eliminate this targeting. They also weaken accountability for how federal dollars are spent: block grants waive the requirements associated with the programs whose funds are included.

One argument for block grants is that they eliminate bureaucracy; however, U.S. Department of Education programs do not suffer from excessive bureaucratic processes. The actual cost to administer Department of Education programs related to elementary and secondary education is less than half of 1 percent of total program funds.

Block grant proponents claim that these grants provide states with needed flexibility in the use of federal funds. States are already allowed considerable discretion, however. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, states and districts may transfer portions of their federal funds between certain federal programs. In addition, under the Education Flexibility Partnership Act of 1999 (Ed-Flex), states may apply to the U.S. secretary of education for waivers of statutory and regulatory requirements.

National PTA supports adequate funding for programs that help public schools and the children those schools serve. National PTA supports maximum local control in school reform; however, it believes the federal government has a responsibility to provide leadership, technical support, and financial assistance to supplement state and local school district efforts to educate children.

National PTA supports efforts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of federal education programs, but does not believe changes should come at the expense of targeted resources for economically disadvantaged children or at the expense of other important national education priorities for which specific programs have been established.

National PTA opposes block grants that cut funding or that consolidate programs without retaining the original purposes for which they were created. National PTA also opposes block grants that eliminate important program requirements (such as eligibility criteria or parent involvement), remove targeting based on need, or in any way reduce accountability for how tax dollars are spent.

Talking Points

• Block grants weaken accountability for how federal dollars are spent: block grants waive the requirements associated with the programs whose funds are included.
• Arguments have been made that block grants would eliminate bureaucracy, but federal elementary and secondary education programs actually use less than half of 1 percent of total program funds for administration.

Proponents claim that block grants provide states with needed flexibility in the use of federal funds. States are already allowed considerable discretion, however.