Drew Angerer/The New York TimesPresident Obama spoke about the budget and education at Parkville Middle School and Center of Technology in Baltimore on Monday. He was flanked by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, at left, and Jack Lew, director of the Office of Management and Budget. Go to related article »On Monday, President Obama released his proposed federal budget, which would cut the deficit by a projected $1.1 trillion over 10 years. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers have indicated that the budget proposal they will unveil in April will include much deeper spending cuts than the president’s.
What programs are most likely to be cut or reduced? How might the cuts affect the economic recovery? What are the hazards of heavy national debt and deficit levels? How will Democratic and Republican lawmakers come together — and how will the budget that is ultimately approved compare with the one President Obama proposed this week?
Today, we offer teaching ideas to help your students learn the basics about what a federal budget is, as well as critical factors that present challenges to the president’s proposed budget for 2012.
Key Questions
How will the proposed 2012 budget affect all government programs? What programs will get the deepest cuts if the proposed budget is passed? Which will be unaffected or have minimal cuts?
How will the proposed budget address the need to both spur economic recovery – by, for example, creating jobs – and address the federal deficit?
Whose political interests had to be considered in creating a budget proposal that would be most likely to pass?
What individuals and groups support and oppose President Obama’s proposed budget? Why?
Activity Ideas
General Federal Budget Ideas
Bringing It Home How does a budget work? How do budget cuts affect people and groups? How do decision makers determine where to trim the budget? Students list everything that they imagine their school (or if you prefer, your city or town, or your state) must pay for — staff salaries, textbooks and other teaching materials and supplies, computers and other technology equipment, cafeteria food, library books, art supplies, building maintenance and repairs and so on. Or, they might obtain a copy of the school budget. They then research or estimate the dollar amount devoted to each budget item. Then tell them that they have been asked to reduce the budget by a certain percentage or as much as they can. After small groups develop proposed budgets, the students present them to the class – and, perhaps, the principal. End the activity by having students vote for the best budget(s) based on criteria like “cut the most spending” or “disrupted school life the least.”
Budget Basics How does the federal government create its budget? What is the Federal Reserve? Use our lesson “Budget Busters” to help students better understand the Federal Reserve and its fiscal policies. You might also use the interactive game Budget Hero to reinforce what students have learned.
