Just one little issue stands in the way of an agreement between the White House and Senate Democrats on the education bill -- how much money to spend on America's schools.

The bill to finally be debated in the Senate next week is S. 1 - Reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), the landmark legislation providing most of the federal funding for public education in the United States.

How much funding? During 2001, schools are receiving around $18.4 billion in federal funds. For 2002, Senate Democrats are seeking to increase that figure to about $27 billion. President Bush says he is willing to spend just under $21 billion. The difference -- about $6 billion -- represents a load of negotiating, even for the federal government.

Some agreements have been reached. Democratic Senators and the president agree that states should enjoy more freedom in deciding how they spend federal education money and that schools should be given more or less federal money depending on their students' performance on mandated standard tests.

President Bush wanted to give $1500 vouchers to families of children in poor schools to help them enroll in private schools. Faced with stiff opposition in the Senate, the White House agreed to a compromise of providing federal funds to pay for private tutoring in poor school districts. 

Most remaining disagreements are to the funding levels of parts of Title I of the education bill -- Better Results for Disadvantage Children.

Title I funds programs intended to assist children in poor schools to "acquire the knowledge and skills contained in the challenging State content standards and to meet the challenging State student performance standards developed for all children."

The main programs provided for under Title I include:

• Local Education Grants 
• Reading First
• Education of Migratory Children 
• Dropout Prevention and Intervention Programs

President Bush's proposal calls for spending about $11 billion on Title I programs, while the proposal put forth by Senate Democrats spends around $15 billion.

In a Senate divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, debate should be intense and the vote, which could come as early as Tuesday, close.

• Discuss the Public Education Bill