AS I WAS enjoying the beautiful weather last Sunday, it was the simple click of a link that brought down the proverbial rain on my day. It informed me that President Bush, in his fiscal year 2006 budget proposal, is essentially trading hundreds of educational, environmental and medical programs for the greatest increase in military spending since the fall of the Soviet Union (what will be a 41 percent increase in military spending since 2001). Inevitably, such sweeping disregard for programs that promote the general welfare, such as TRIO's Upward Bound, has profound and immediate consequences for the whole nation and the Charlottesville-Albermarle community.
Originally passed in 1965, today's TRIO programs (named because there were initially only three programs) such as Upward Bound work to equalize educational opportunities for low-income and disabled students, providing otherwise qualified students with resources necessary to promote matriculation in higher education. Since 1965, TRIO's specialized and effective channeling of resources has helped over two million low-income and disabled students graduate from college. Nonetheless, it is estimated that today's federal funding permits fewer than seven percent of eligible individuals to be served, even while TRIO estimates that at least "11 million Americans critically need to access the TRIO programs." In a nation that values equal opportunity, we naturally expect our government to alleviate this pretense. Unfortunately, it seems to be doing just the opposite.
With billions of dollars of cuts to crucial programs that promote the general welfare, citizens of Charlottesville may wonder why Upward Bound should be of particular importance. The answer to such inquiries rests within the community itself; the University of Virginia's chapter of Upward Bound, in place since 1968, is a particularly helpful and successful one, organizing the educational services for much of the Central Virginia area, including Albemarle, Buckingham, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Nelson, Orange, Charlottesville City and Waynesboro City.
First of all, the socioeconomic makeup of the affected communities are the most important variable when determining how big of an effect the elimination of Upward Bound will have. For example, areas with very few low income families will have the least need for low-income educational aid, and thus will be the least affected by the lack thereof. With this in mind, the budget proposal will inflict heavy casualties on the area served by U.Va.'s Upward Bound. According to the 2002 U.S. Census Summary, 31.78 percent of the families in the affected Central Virginia area earn an annual income of between $10,000 to $24,999 (42.0 percent of families in Charlottesville fall into that range -- higher than any other area served by U.Va.'s Upward Bound, although Buckingham comes in at 41.9 percent and the other cities are in the high thirties). The fact that almost half of Charlottesville, as well as nearly one-third of the remaining areas, will be robbed of essential educational assets is a cause for bipartisan alarm.
Before the alarm is rung, however, it is important to examine the Bush administration's rationale for doing away with Upward Bound. According to the Department of Education's Web site, "Upward Bound received an Ineffective PART rating due to a lack of data on key performance measures." The claim that the program is ineffective is impugned by the U.Va. Upward Bound Program's annual report to the Department of Education, submitted just last December. Among others, the program has provided the following results for participants: a retention rate of 75 percent (from the time they enter the program until high school graduated), a 100 percent high school graduate rate and an 80-90 percent post secondary education matriculation rate. Furthermore, 64 percent of alumni complete some form of post-secondary educating within six years.
Few are better acquainted with the success of such programs than Everett Maurice Walker, Program Coordinator for U.Va.'s Upward Bound Program, who stated, in an e-mail interview, that "Upward Bound has effectively provided high school students with the tools required to pursue and obtain their post-secondary educational goals." He, on behalf of the community, asks "why should funding for a program that has proven itself for 40 years be eliminated and transferred to untested ventures?"
However, it is not simply Walker or Democrats that should be asking this question. Republicans such as Sen. John Warner and the 5th district's Rep. Virgil Goode have shown strong support for Upward Bound, indicating at least in part that the issue should not be divided among partisan lines. The issue will have an immediate effect on the Charlottesville and Central Virginia area, and there is no louder voice in the arena of politics than the voice of constituents; in the face of these threats to our much-esteemed community programs, we have a duty to use this voice.
Sina Kian's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at skian@cavalierdaily.com.
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