According to an Alliance for Excellent Education report, the President's 2007 budget proposal cuts more than 2 billion dollars from programs like GEAR UP, TRIO, Vocational Education, and grants for smaller learning communities. While the proposed budget does add money in other places (largely through a $1.5 billion High School Initiative), all told the recommendation freezes current federal commitments to education at about the same levels as the previous years.

I've met students who participate in some of the programs that would be cut under the President's budget and can say unequivocally that they make a big difference in the lives of youth who otherwise have very little going for them in the way of educational opportunity. One such student whom I met in DC a few months ago, Katie Hill, participated in a GEAR UP program in McDermitt High School, a small school in small-town McDermitt, NV. The National Council on Community and Education Partnerships brought her to DC to talk with a number of business and education leaders about the impact that GEAR UP had on her, and how if she had not had her GEAR UP experience she almost certainly would not be preparing for college this upcoming fall.

A major word of caution though: we do know enough to say that there's not a simple, one-to-one relationship between money and educational outcomes. More money doesn't always lead to better schools, and our country already spends more per student than any other nation in the world. But this much is true: it's hard to make the case that we as Americans--and our elected officials--really treasure our youth if we continue to put other issues (such as $1.35 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years) ahead of their education.

But here's where I want to push back a bit against the common Matthew 6:21 political rant. Treasure is great and everything, but think it's misleading to say that "treasure" always means "heart." Because just as important than the funding itself, I suspect, are the values (heart) that underly the decisions we make about where and how money should be spent. After all, a nation that doesn't care much about educating its children may actually decide to spend sizable sums to do so. But if high quality education isn't actually made a true priority, the money may be squandered on ineffective policies and programs that aren't fixed because doing so would take something even more costly than money: tough, and potentially unpopular political decisions. I submit to you that this may be where are as a nation today... we care about children and their schools enough to spend a lot of money on them, but not enough to fight the tough fights necessary to effect serious change: re-examining the way we set standards and create accountability; hire, pay, & fire teachers, etc.

In other words, treasure isn't enough. It's where your heart is that counts. And as more and more youth join our national campaign to make high quality public education a right for all children, we're finding that this is what America's students care about at the end of the day.