Bush cuts Education IT budget

President Bush’s budget proposal for the Education Department would cut the agency’s information technology budget from $407 million to $403 million in fiscal 2007. In fiscal 2005, Education received $449 million for IT.

The budget proposal for the department has few big-ticket items this year, even though the administration is working to overhaul Education's financial loan application system.

The proposal includes $77 million for the Virtual Data Center to provide a single computing environment for hosting the Federal Student Aid Title IV application systems that support the federal student financial aid process.

The administration’s proposed budget also includes a $13.8 million request to create a single integrated system for the Direct Loan Servicing System, Debt Management and Collection System, Direct Loan Consolidation System, and Conditional Disability Discharge Tracking System.

“Continued investment in information technology is helping to make federal student aid more effective,” the administration said in its budget briefing book. “Recent streamlining and enhancements to the systems that support student loan borrowers have improved customer service and performance.”