Case Overview, Basic Education Funding for Developing Countries

          Public education is a right in the United States. Whatever differences Americans have over what should be taught in the schools, how schools should be funded, and what kind of alternative schools should be available, there is an unwavering national consensus that every single child has a right to an education at a school supported and maintained by the government. In much of the world this is not the case. Indeed, in some third world countries, only a small minority of the population receives an education. For policymakers in Washington, the question about education in the developing countries is, "to what extent is it the United States' responsibility to schools there?"

          Nonprofit organizations in Washington working on behalf of U.S. support for education overseas feel they must fight the perception that foreign aid to fund schools does little good. Everyone is in favor of education but the third world is a big place and financing education may seem to be a hopelessly idealistic and hugely expensive undertaking. Moreover, the American public is not terribly supportive of foreign aid. As one congressional aide noted, "There is a limited foreign aid budget [and that's] the major impediment." Consequently, advocates are continually making the case that while education in developing countries is not a quick fix, it does work and progress depends on it. One lobbyist for a Washington nonprofit put it this way: "You can't hope to have a productive society that's going to be healthy, that's going to be able to read labels on medicine cans and figure out how to feed their children, and go to work, and become trading partners with the United States, without an educated society."

          A coordinated effort among the industrialized countries was pushed forward at a conference sponsored by the World Bank and other international organizations in Thailand in 1990. More recently the World Bank has set a goal of universal primary education by 2015. "The World Bank has been fairly consistent over the years, consistently saying that education is the foundation and bedrock of all development," said one Washington-based advocate. Funds appropriated by the U.S. Congress have gone to NGO's (nongovernmental organizations) that work in the third world, and the NGO's in turn sponsor schools or fund indigenous government programs. World Learning and the Academy for Educational Development are two of the leading NGO's on this issue and they are key members of the Basic Education Coalition in Washington. The Coalition is the chief lobbying force, working with its allies in the House and the Senate to try to persuade the Congress to increase its support.

          The United States' contribution so far has been modest, and more than a decade after the Thailand conference, its funding was in the neighborhood of $150 million annually. As Congress was finishing work on appropriations for its fiscal year 2003 budget, there was hope that the number could go over $200 million. The coalition working on behalf of this issue has clearly made progress in expanding funding, albeit modestly and incrementally.