May/June 2004 Issue

Left Behind

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


At one of his trademark elementary school photo ops earlier this year, President Bush said his
administration was pumping money into America’s schools like never before. “The federal government
is sending checks at record amounts,” he announced. In fact, Bush’s 2005 budget provides the smallest
increase in education funding since 1996; it also sends 38 federal education programs to the chopping
block, for a total of $1.4 billion in cuts (see sampling below). Even the president’s signature
education initiative, the No Child Left Behind Act, falls far short of the funding Bush promised
for it—one reason why legislators in at least 17 states have endorsed bills protesting the
law. — Dave Gilson

PROGRAM

PROPOSED CUT/
UNDERFUNDING

WHAT IT DOES

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND

$9.4 billion
(27 percent)

Over the past four years, Bush has allocated $30 billion less than Congress authorized for the law, which requires increased testing and penalizes schools where scores don’t improve. Programs for disadvantaged students take the hardest hit; the budget leaves them underfunded by $7.2 billion.

EVEN START

$247 million

Eliminates program that teaches parents and children in poor families to read; in 2002, Bush praised Even Start’s work as “incredibly important.”

DROPOUT PREVENTION

$5 million

Eliminates program to help at-risk students. Under No Child Left Behind, schools are penalized if students drop out.

JAVITS GIFTED AND TALENTED PROGRAM

$11 million

Eliminates program for gifted students who are minorities, disabled, or speak little English.

COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGY CENTERS

$10 million

Eliminates program that brings computers to places where kids don’t have access to technology, such as housing projects.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE

$17 million

Eliminates program.

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

$316 million

Cuts 20 percent of federal funding for job-training programs.

ARTS IN EDUCATION

$35 million

Eliminates program.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate